Mark 8:5
in Mark 8“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven.
KJV
And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven.
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This verse in Mark 8
Commentary
10 notes on this verseAfter the Lord had performed the former miracle concerning the multiplication of the loaves, now again, a fitting occasion presents itself, and He takes the opportunity of working a similar miracle; wherefore it is said, In those days, the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and, saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat.
This site's exposition
From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread
on Mark 8:4-9
From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness, the disciples ask, having apparently forgotten the five thousand fed only a chapter before, and the bench reads the question as Mark's own honest measure of how little the first miracle had taught them. Jesus asks how many loaves they have, takes the seven, gives thanks, and has the disciples distribute them exactly as at the earlier feeding, blessing what is given rather than multiplying from nothing before their eyes. Four thousand eat and are filled, and seven baskets of fragments remain, a second sign of abundance offered to a crowd Mark does not identify by nationality, though the region east of the sea suggests Gentiles are present this time.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Ignorance was not His reason for asking them, but that from their answering seven, the miracle might be noised abroad, and become more known in proportion to the smallness of the number.
The Medieval Church3 voices
And he asked them: How many loaves do you have? They said: Seven. The seven loaves are well placed in the mystery of the New Testament, in which the septiform grace of the Holy Spirit, more fully revealed to all the faithful, is both believed …
The Lord had already performed a similar miracle before. He works wonders now as well, having a fitting occasion for it. And the occasion was this: the people had been with Him for three days, and the food supply they had taken for the journey …
Or else, the seven loaves are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the fragments of the loaves are the mystical understanding of the first week.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And he asked them, how many loaves have ye?.... See Gill on Mat 15:34; and they said, seven. Matthew adds, "and a few little fishes", which are here afterwards mentioned.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
Once more we see our Lord feeding a great multitude with a few loaves and fish. He knew the heart of man. He saw the rise of cavilers and skeptics, who would question the reality of the wonderful works He performed. By repeating the mighty miracle here recorded, He stops the mouth of all who are not wilfully blind to evidence. Publicly, and before four thousand witnesses, He shows His almighty power a second time. Let us observe in this passage how great is the kindness and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ .
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven--It was important in this case, as in the former, that the precise number of the loaves should be brought out.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
Once more we see our Lord feeding a great multitude with a few loaves and fish. He knew the heart of man. He saw the rise of cavilers and skeptics, who would question the reality of the wonderful works He performed. By repeating the mighty miracle here recorded, He stops the mouth of all who are not wilfully blind to evidence. Publicly, and before four thousand witnesses, He shows His almighty power a second time. Let us observe in this passage how great is the kindness and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ . He saw around Him a "very great multitude," who had nothing to eat. He knew that the great majority were following Him from no other motive than idle curiosity, and had no claim whatever to be regarded as His disciples. Yet when He saw them hungry and destitute, He pitied them — "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat." The feeling heart of our Lord Jesus Christ appears in these words. He has compassion even on those who are not His people — the faithless, the graceless, the followers of this world. He feels tenderly for them, though they know it not. He died for them, though they care little for what He did on the cross. He would receive them graciously, and pardon them freely, if they would only repent and believe on Him. Let us ever beware of measuring the love of Christ by any human measure. He has a special love, beyond doubt, for His own believing people. But He has also a general love of compassion, even for the unthankful and the evil. His love "passes knowledge." (Ephes. 3:19.) Let us strive to make Jesus our pattern in this, as well as in everything else. Let us be kind, and compassionate, and piteous, and courteous to all men. Let us be ready to do good to all men, and not only to friends and the household of faith.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | And | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἠρώτα | erota | He was asking | G2065 → | 62 times |
| αὐτούς· | autous | them; | G846 → | 5565 times |
| πόσους | posous | How many | G4214 → | 27 times |
| ἔχετε | echete | have you | G2192 → | 707 times |
| ἄρτους; | artous | loaves? | G740 → | 97 times |
| οἱ | hoi | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| δὲ | de | And | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| εἶπαν· | eipan | they said; | G2036 → | 925 times |
| ἑπτά. | hepta | Seven. | G2033 → | 86 times |
καὶAnd
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἠρώταHe was asking
erotaG2065 →62 times
αὐτούς·them;
autousG846 →5565 times
πόσουςHow many
posousG4214 →27 times
ἔχετεhave you
echeteG2192 →707 times
ἄρτους;loaves?
artousG740 →97 times
οἱ<the>
hoiG3588 →19766 times
δὲAnd
deG1161 →2765 times
εἶπαν·they said;
eipanG2036 →925 times
ἑπτά.Seven.
heptaG2033 →86 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Luke 9:13But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered, “unless we go and buy food for all these people.”
it leads to
- Proverbs 11:24–25
One gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor.
- 2 Kings 4:42–43
Now a man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with a sack of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first ripe grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha.
- John 6:5–9
When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?”
- Mark 6:37–38
But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” They asked Him, “Should we go out and spend two hundred denarii to give all of them bread to eat?”
- Proverbs 11:24–25
Through
Mark 6:38“Go and see how many loaves you have,” He told them. And after checking, they said, “Five—and two fish.”
it leads to
- Matthew 15:34
“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”
- John 6:9
“Here is a boy with five barley loaves and two small fish. But what difference will these make among so many?”
- Matthew 14:17–18
“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
- Luke 9:13
But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered, “unless we go and buy food for all these people.”
- Matthew 15:34
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this verse
About Mark
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Bede, On the Gospel of Mark; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Pseudo-Jerome, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Remigius of Rheims, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Theophylact of Ohrid, Catena Aurea by Aquinas and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Mark.