John 6

The Multiplication of the Loaves

1After this, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee — the Sea of Tiberias. 2A large crowd followed him, because they had seen the signs he was performing on the sick. 3Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4The Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5Jesus looked up, and seeing a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6He said this to test him; he himself already knew what he was going to do. 7Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get even a little.” 8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9“There is a boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what is that for so many?” 10Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, so the men sat down — about five thousand of them. 11Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were seated; the same with the fish, as much as they wanted. 12When they had eaten their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces; let nothing go to waste.” 13They gathered them, and with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten they filled twelve baskets. 14When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This truly is the prophet who is to come into the world.” 15Jesus, knowing they meant to come and seize him to make him king, fled again to the mountain, this time alone.

Jesus Walks on the Sea

16When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17got into a boat, and set out across the water toward Capernaum. Darkness had already fallen, and Jesus had not yet come to them, 18and a strong wind was blowing, whipping up the sea. 19When they had rowed twenty-five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea, drawing near the boat — and they were terrified. 20But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” 21Then they were glad to take him into the boat; and at once the boat reached the shore they were heading for.

The Bread of Life

22The next day the crowd still standing on the far side of the sea realized that only one small boat had been there, and that Jesus had not boarded it with his disciples — they had left alone. 23Other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord gave thanks. 24So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats themselves and went to Capernaum, looking for Jesus. 25They found him on the other side of the sea and asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26Jesus answered them, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27Do not work for the food that spoils, but for the food that endures into eternal life — the food the Son of Man gives you. For on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.” 28They said to him, “What must we do to carry out the works of God?” 29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God: to believe in the one he has sent.” 30They said to him, “Then what sign will you perform, so that we may see it and believe you? What work will you do? 31Our ancestors ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; 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.” 34They said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 35Jesus said to them, “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, and still you do not believe. 37All that 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 own will, but the will of the one who sent me. 39And this is the will of the one who sent me: that I lose nothing of all he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him should have eternal life — and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Murmuring in Capernaum

41At this the Jews began to murmur about him, because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and his mother. How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43Jesus answered them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45It is written in the prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has listened to the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46Not that anyone has seen the Father — only the one who is from God; he has seen God. 47Very truly I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, and they died. 50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52Then the Jews began arguing fiercely with one another: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53So Jesus 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 feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven — not like the bread the fathers ate; they died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59He said these things while teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

Words of Eternal Life

60On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard saying. Who can listen to it?” 61Jesus knew within himself that his disciples were murmuring about it, and he said to them, “Does this shake you? 62Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63The Spirit is what gives life; the flesh is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64But there are some among you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones did not believe, and who it was who would betray him. 65And he went on: “That is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” 66From then on, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to leave too?” 68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69and we have believed, and we have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And one of you is a devil.” 71He was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot; for Judas, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.