34When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd and felt sorry for them. They were like sheep without a shepherd. So he spent a lot of time teaching them.
35When it was late, his disciples came to him. They said, "No one lives around here, and it's already late.
36Send the people to the closest farms and villages to buy themselves something to eat."
37Jesus replied, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "Should we go and spend about a year's wages on bread to feed them?"
38He said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." When they found out, they told him, "Five loaves of bread and two fish."
39Then he ordered all of them to sit down in groups on the green grass.
40They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.
41After he took the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart and kept giving them to the disciples to give to the people. He also gave pieces of the two fish to everyone.
42All of them ate as much as they wanted.
43When they picked up the leftover pieces, they filled twelve baskets with bread and fish.
44There were 5,000 men who had eaten the bread.
45Jesus quickly made his disciples get into a boat and cross to Bethsaida ahead of him while he sent the people away. 46After saying goodbye to them, he went up a mountain to pray.
47When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48Jesus saw that they were in a lot of trouble as they rowed, because they were going against the wind. Between three and six o'clock in the morning, he came to them. He was walking on the sea. He wanted to pass by them. 49When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought, "It's a ghost!" and they began to scream. 50All of them saw him and were terrified. Immediately, he said, "Calm down! It's me. Don't be afraid!" 51He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped blowing. The disciples were astounded. 52(They didn't understand what had happened with the loaves of bread. Instead, their minds were closed.)
53They crossed the sea, came to shore at Gennesaret, and anchored there. 54As soon as they stepped out of the boat, the people recognized Jesus. 55They ran all over the countryside and began to carry the sick on cots to any place where they heard he was. 56Whenever he would go into villages, cities, or farms, people would put their sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch the edge of his clothes. Everyone who touched his clothes was made well.
