Harmony of the Gospels
   IV. Second Year's Ministry

      Miraculous feeding of five thousand
Matthew

Mark

Luke

John

13Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.
14When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.
15When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, "This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves."
16But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!"
17They *said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish."
18And He said, "Bring them here to Me."
19Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds,
20and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets.
21There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.
   Matthew 14:13-21  

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
30The apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.
31And He *said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while." (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)
32They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.
33The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.
34When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.
35When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, "This place is desolate and it is already quite late;
36send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."
37But He answered them, "You give them something to eat!" And they *said to Him, "Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?"
38And He *said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go look!" And when they found out, they *said, "Five, and two fish."
39And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass.
40They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties.
41And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all.
42They all ate and were satisfied,
43and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish.
44There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.
   Mark 6:30-44  

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
12Now the day was ending, and the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the crowd away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get something to eat; for here we are in a desolate place."
13But He said to them, "You give them something to eat!" And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people."
14(For there were about five thousand men.) And He said to His disciples, "Have them sit down to eat in groups of about fifty each."
15They did so, and had them all sit down.
16Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the people.
17And they all ate and were satisfied; and the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve baskets full.
   Luke 9:12-17  

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
1After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias).
2A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick.
3Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples.
4Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.
5Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, *said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?"
6This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do.
7Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little."
8One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, *said to Him,
9"There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?"
10Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
11Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted.
12When they were filled, He *said to His disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost."
13So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.
   John 6:1-13  

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

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[Preface]