JESUS SENT HIS TWELVE MEN TO OTHER TOWNS (6:6b-13)

1After that Jesus went to his own country, his men followed him.

6Jesus was going to towns, he was teaching them about God's word.

7After that he called his men,

7he told them, I will send you to people, you will tell them about God. I told you this word. From now on you send evil spirits from people. You go, do not take money or food.

9Put on shoes, take only one set of clothes. Leave other clothes behind.

10Perhaps in some towns a person will say to you, 'Come here, stay a little while with us.' At that time you will stay in his camp in that town.

11Perhaps you will come to other towns, they will ignore you, they will not ask you to stay in their town, they will not listen to God's word. If they do that do not stay in that town. Brush the dust from your shoes. When you do that you will show them God will be angry with them after ignoring his word. Then leave that town.

12Yes, that is all. Go by twos.”

12After that they went. As they were going they were telling people, “You have been ignoring God. Leave doing wrong and believe in God!”

13They were sending away many evil spirits, they put medicine on many sick people, they were asking God, “Will you make this person well.” After that the sick person became well. God made them well.

JESUS MADE FOOD FOR 5,000 (6:30-44)

30Later Jesus' mob who had been sent out returned to him. They told him they were making people well, they were sending out evil spirits, they were teaching people about God, in that way, in response to Jesus' word.

31At that time very many people came to Jesus. They were crowding him from all sides. They did not let Jesus and his men eat. After that Jesus said to his men, “Just we will go to countryside where there are no people. We will rest for a while.”

32They climbed into a dinghy, they went to where there were no people.

33Many were watching them, they knew about them, and they knew where Jesus was going. They went quickly around the end of the waterhole to the far side on foot, they were ready waiting for him.

34When Jesus disembarked he saw many ready waiting for him. When he saw them he felt sorry for them. He said to himself, “These people are truly in a bad way, without a boss. They are lost, like sheep without a carer.” For a long he was teaching them about God.

35It became late afternoon. They were still listening to his word. His men said to him, “It is late afternoon. The towns are far away.

36Send these people to the towns so they can get food for themselves.”

37Jesus replied, “You give them food.” His men said to him, “We cannot give them food. We could only get food for those many people with a lot of money. We have only a little money.”

38In reply he said to them, “How much damper do you have? Look.” After looking they said to him, “Five dampers and two small fish.”

39He told his men, “Tell the people to sit down.” They told them to sit down on the grass in groups.

40They sat down at his word, here 50 were in a group, over there 100 were in a group. All the others were like that, they were in groups everywhere.

41Jesus picked up their dampers, he looked upwards, he said to God, “You are the one who gave us this food. Thank you! You have helped us! You are good.” When he had said that, he broke the dampers into pieces, he gave them to his men, he said to them, “Give them to these people.” He did the same sort of thing with the two fish also.

44Many people ate. Five thousand men ate that food.

42They all ate till they were full.

43After that his men picked up the leftovers, they put them in carrying dishes, they filled 12 big carrying dishes.

JESUS WALKED ON TOP OF THE WATER (6:45-52)

45After that Jesus told his men, “Get in the dinghy, go to the other side, to Bethsaida. Later I will come to you.” They went ahead in the dinghy. Then Jesus sent all the others to their camps.

46After that Jesus climbed up a hill to talk to God.

47It became dark. He was staying there alone. His men were in the dinghy in the middle of the water, they were in a bad way. A big wind was blowing for them.

48They were still trying in vain to make the dinghy go, in vain they were trying to make it go with oars (lit. 'with wood') because of the big wind. Jesus saw them from a long way off. He came to them before it was day. He was going on top of the water. He kept coming close to them.

49His men saw him, he was following them from behind on top of the water. They did not recognise him, they were thinking something like an evil spirit was coming. They were afraid of him, they really called out with fear.

50Jesus told them, “Don't be afraid. It is me coming. Quieten down, stay well.”

51He climbed in the dinghy with them. Right then the wind abated. His men wondered at him. They were saying to each other, “Yes, look! He was walking on top of the water. As soon as he came right then the wind abated.”

52They did not understand. Earlier they saw him give food to 5,000 men from a little fish and damper. They didn't keep it in their minds. They were still thinking to themselves, “He is just a person like us.”

JESUS WAS HEALING PEOPLE AT GENNESARET (6:53-56)

53After that they arrived in that country Gennesaret. They tied the dinghy with a rope at the edge of the waterhole.

54Jesus got out of the dinghy, those inhabitants of the place saw him, straight away they knew him.

55They ran everywhere in that country, they were saying to them, “Jesus has come.” After that they were bringing sick ones on blankets.

56That is what they were doing in town after town, in camp after camp. They were bringing sick people to him. In the middle of the towns on flat places some people used to sell food and all sorts of things. There on the flat places they were putting the sick ones on blankets on the ground. They were saying to Jesus, “These sick people want to touch your clothes. They will touch your clothes, they will become well.” Truly those who touched him all became well.