Matthew 16:10
in Matthew 16Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
KJV
Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
⋯
This verse in Matthew 16
Commentary
9 notes on this verseNeither the seven loaves of the four thousand,.... Have you forgot the other miracle done but a very little while ago, when I fed four thousand men, beside women and children, with seven loaves and a few small fishes; and how many baskets ye took up? no less than seven large baskets; and am I not able to provide for you? distress not yourselves about this matter; give not way to unbelief, which must argue great stupidity and insensibility.
This site's exposition
O ye of little faith
on Matthew 16:8-10
This is the fourth and final sounding of the little faith refrain in this Gospel, and Jesus ties the rebuke directly to memory, do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and the seven loaves of the four thousand. Naming both feedings by their differing numbers in one breath answers, in passing, any suspicion that Matthew has told one story twice, since Jesus himself treats them as two separate events with two separate counts of baskets recovered. The failure he names is not ignorance of a fact but a fear that forgets what that fact already proved about him.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
Thus He takes this occasion to instruct them what is meant by the five loaves and the seven loaves, the five thousand and the four thousand, who were fed in the desert. For if the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees signified not earthly food, but corrupt traditions and heretical dogmas, why should not the food with which the people of God is nourished signify the true and uncorrupt doctrine?
A commentator
John ChrysostomHomily on the Gospel of Matthew 53 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
For not everywhere is lenity a good thing. And as He used to allow them freedom of speech, so doth He also reprove, by this variety providing for their salvation. And mark thou at once His reproof, how strong, and His mildness. For all but excusing Himself to them for His severe reproofs to them, He saith, "Do ye not yet consider the five loaves, and how many baskets ye took up; and the seven loaves, and how many baskets ye took up?" And to this end He sets down also the numbers, as well of the persons fed as of the fragments, at once both bringing them to recollection of the past, and making them more attentive to the future.
(Verses 8 and following.) But Jesus, being aware of this, said to them: Why are you discussing among yourselves, O you of little faith, that you have no bread? Do you still not understand or remember the five loaves for the five thousand men, and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand men, and how many baskets you took up? How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The Medieval Church1 voice
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. But Jesus, aware of this, said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Remember how many baskets ye took up. " These baskets were intended for memorials, by which to keep the mercy in remembrance, as the pot of manna which was preserved in the ark, Exod. xvi. The fragments of those meals would be a feast now; and he that could furnish them with such an overplus then, surely could furnish them with what was necessary now.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
In these verses we find our Lord assailed by the untiring enmity of the Pharisees and Sadducees. As a general rule these two sects were at enmity between themselves; in persecuting Christ, however, they made common cause. Truly it was an unholy alliance! Yet how often we see the same thing in the present day. Men of the most opposite opinions and habits will agree in disliking the Gospel, and will work together to oppose its progress. “There is no new thing under the sun” ( Ecclesiastes 1:9 ).
In these verses we find our Lord assailed by the untiring enmity of the Pharisees and Sadducees. As a general rule these two sects were at enmity between themselves; in persecuting Christ, however, they made common cause. Truly it was an unholy alliance! Yet how often we see the same thing in the present day. Men of the most opposite opinions and habits will agree in disliking the Gospel, and will work together to oppose its progress. “There is no new thing under the sun” ( Ecclesiastes 1:9 ). The first point in this passage which deserves special notice is the repetition which our Lord makes of words used by him on a former occasion. He says, “a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonah.” If we turn to the twelth chapter of this gospel and the thirty ninth verse, we shall find that he had said the very same thing once before. This repetition may seem a trifling and unimportant matter in the eyes of some. But it is not so in reality. It throws light on a subject which has perplexed the minds of many sincere lovers of the Bible, and ought therefore to be specially observed. This repetition shows us that our Lord was in the habit of saying the same things over again. He did not content himself with saying a thing once, and afterwards never repeating it. It is evident that it was his custom to bring forward certain truths again and again, and thus to impress them more deeply on the minds of his disciples. He knew the weakness of our memories on spiritual things; he knew that what we hear twice, we remember better than what we hear once. He therefore brought out of his treasury old things as well as new. Now what does all this teach us? It teaches us that we need not be so anxious to harmonize the narratives we read in the four Gospels, as many are disposed to be.
The words behind it
10 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| οὐδὲ | oude | Nor [remember] | G3761 → | 141 times |
| τοὺς | tous | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἑπτὰ | hepta | seven | G2033 → | 86 times |
| ἄρτους | artous | loaves | G740 → | 97 times |
| τῶν | ton | for the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| τετρακισχιλίων | tetrakischilion | four thousand | G5070 → | |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| πόσας | posas | how many | G4214 → | 27 times |
| σπυρίδας | spuridas | baskets | G4711 → | |
| ἐλάβετε; | elabete | you gathered? | G2983 → | 257 times |
οὐδὲNor [remember]
oudeG3761 →141 times
τοὺςthe
tousG3588 →19766 times
ἑπτὰseven
heptaG2033 →86 times
ἄρτουςloaves
artousG740 →97 times
τῶνfor the
tonG3588 →19766 times
τετρακισχιλίωνfour thousand
tetrakischilionG5070 →
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
πόσαςhow many
posasG4214 →27 times
σπυρίδαςbaskets
spuridasG4711 →
ἐλάβετε;you gathered?
elabeteG2983 →257 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
About Matthew
This page draws on J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Jerome, Commentary on Matthew; John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 53; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Matthew.