John 6

₁After this, Jesus went across Lake Galilee (or, Lake Tiberias, as it is also called). ₂A large crowd followed him, because they had seen his miracles of healing those who were ill. ₃Jesus went up a hill and sat down with his disciples. ₄The time for the Passover Festival was near. ₅Jesus looked round and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, so he asked Philip, “Where can we buy enough food to feed all these people?” ₆(He said this to test Philip; actually he already knew what he would do.)

₇Philip answered, “For everyone to have even a little, it would take more than 200 silver coins to buy enough bread.”

₈Another of his disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter's brother, said, ₉“There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But they will certainly not be enough for all these people.”

₁₀“Make the people sit down,” Jesus told them. (There was a lot of grass there.) So all the people sat down; there were about 5,000 men. ₁₁Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God, and distributed it to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, and they all had as much as they wanted. ₁₂When they were all full, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces left over; let us not waste any.” ₁₃So they gathered them all up and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left over from the five barley loaves which the people had eaten.

₁₄Seeing this miracle that Jesus had performed, the people there said, “Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world!” ₁₅Jesus knew that they were about to come and seize him in order to make him king by force; so he went off again to the hills by himself.

₁₆When evening came, Jesus' disciples went down to the lake, ₁₇got into a boat, and went back across the lake towards Capernaum. Night came on, and Jesus still had not come to them. ₁₈By then a strong wind was blowing and stirring up the water. ₁₉The disciples had rowed about five or six kilometres when they saw Jesus walking on the water, coming near the boat, and they were terrified. ₂₀“Don't be afraid,” Jesus told them, “it is I!” ₂₁Then they willingly took him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached land at the place they were heading for.

₂₂Next day the crowd which had stayed on the other side of the lake realized that there had been only one boat there. They knew that Jesus had not gone in it with his disciples, but that they had left without him. ₂₃Other boats, which were from Tiberias, came to shore near the place where the crowd had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ₂₄When the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they got into those boats and went to Capernaum, looking for him.

₂₅When the people found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they said to him, “Teacher, when did you get here?”

₂₆Jesus answered, “I am telling you the truth: you are looking for me because you ate the bread and had all you wanted, not because you understood my miracles. ₂₇Do not work for food that goes bad; instead, work for the food that lasts for eternal life. This is the food which the Son of Man will give you, because God, the Father, has put his mark of approval on him.”

₂₈So they asked him, “What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?”

₂₉Jesus answered, “What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent.”

₃₀They replied, “What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ₃₁Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, just as the scripture says, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”

₃₂“I am telling you the truth,” Jesus said. “What Moses gave you was not the bread from heaven; it is my Father who gives you the real bread from heaven. ₃₃For the bread that God gives is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

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

₃₅“I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty. ₃₆Now, I told you that you have seen me but will not believe. ₃₇Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me, ₃₈because I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. ₃₉And it is the will of him who sent me that I should not lose any of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last day. ₄₀For what my Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life. And I will raise them to life on the last day.”

₄₁The people started grumbling about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ₄₂So they said, “This man is Jesus son of Joseph, isn't he? We know his father and mother. How, then, does he now say he came down from heaven?”

₄₃Jesus answered, “Stop grumbling among yourselves. ₄₄No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him to me; and I will raise him to life on the last day. ₄₅The prophets wrote, ‘Everyone will be taught by God.’ Anyone who hears the Father and learns from him comes to me. ₄₆This does not mean that anyone has seen the Father; he who is from God is the only one who has seen the Father. ₄₇I am telling you the truth: he who believes has eternal life. ₄₈I am the bread of life. ₄₉Your ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died. ₅₀But the bread that comes down from heaven is of such a kind that whoever eats it will not die. ₅₁I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live for ever. The bread that I will give him is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live.”

₅₂This started an angry argument among them. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.

₅₃Jesus said to them, “I am telling you the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves. ₅₄Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. ₅₅For my flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink. ₅₆Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. ₅₇The living Father sent me, and because of him I live also. In the same way whoever eats me will live because of me. ₅₈This, then, is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread that your ancestors ate. They later died, but those who eat this bread will live for ever.”

₅₉Jesus said this as he taught in the synagogue in Capernaum.

₆₀Many of his followers heard this and said, “This teaching is too hard. Who can listen to it?”

₆₁Without being told, Jesus knew that they were grumbling about this, so he said to them, “Does this make you want to give up? ₆₂Suppose, then, that you should see the Son of Man go back up to the place where he was before? ₆₃What gives life is God's Spirit; human power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God's life-giving Spirit. ₆₄Yet some of you do not believe.” (Jesus knew from the very beginning who were the ones that would not believe and which one would betray him.) ₆₅And he added, “This is the very reason I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father makes it possible for him to do so.”

₆₆Because of this, many of Jesus' followers turned back and would not go with him any more. ₆₇So he asked the twelve disciples, “And you — would you also like to leave?”

₆₈Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. ₆₉And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God.”

₇₀Jesus replied, “I chose the twelve of you, didn't I? Yet one of you is a devil!” ₇₁He was talking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. For Judas, even though he was one of the twelve disciples, was going to betray him.