John6

¹Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias),

²and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick.

³Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples.

⁴The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

⁵When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”

⁶He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

⁷Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

⁸Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up,

⁹“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

¹⁰Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there).

¹¹Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

¹²When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”

¹³So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

¹⁵Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

¹⁶When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake,

¹⁷where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them.

¹⁸A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough.

¹⁹When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened.

²⁰But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.”

²¹Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

²²The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone.

²³Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

²⁴Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

²⁶Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.

²⁷Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

²⁸Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

²⁹Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

³⁰So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?

³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

³²Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.

³³For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

³⁵Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

³⁶But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.

³⁷All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.

³⁸For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.

⁴⁰For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

⁴¹At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

⁴²They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

⁴³“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered.

⁴⁴“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.

⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.

⁴⁶No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.

⁴⁷Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.

⁴⁸I am the bread of life.

⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.

⁵⁰But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.

⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

⁵²Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

⁵⁴Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.

⁵⁵For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

⁵⁶Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.

⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

⁵⁹He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

⁶⁰On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

⁶¹Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?

⁶²Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!

⁶³The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.

⁶⁴Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.

⁶⁵He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

⁶⁶From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

⁶⁷“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

⁶⁹We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

⁷⁰Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”

⁷¹(He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)