The Fallible Study Bible

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Mark6:30–44

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

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Mark 6:30–44 — The Feeding of the Five Thousand. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

30

Meanwhile, the apostles gathered around Jesus and brought Him news of all they had done and taught.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hoi apostoloi synagontai pros ton Iēsoun kai apēngeilan autō panta hosa epoiēsan kai hosa edidaxan

Word by word16 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiMeanwhileG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἀπόστολοιapostoloiapostlesG652
√ ἀπόστολος — a delegateNounNominative Masculine Plural
ἀπόστολος: a delegate, one sent Mark's single use of the title in his Gospel, placed at the return rather than the sending (6:7). The name is earned in the report, not in the commission: they are apostles because they went and because they now come back to the One who sent them.
συνάγονταιsynagontaigatheredG4863
√ συνάγω — to lead together, iVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Plural
συνάγω: to lead together, gather Historic present, and the same verb John 6:13 uses of gathering the fragments. The unit opens and closes with a gathering: first the sent men are collected to Jesus, then the surplus bread is collected by them.
πρὸςprosaroundG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦνIēsounJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀπήγγειλανapēngeilanbrought Him newsG518
√ ἀπαγγέλλω — to announceVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἀπαγγέλλω: to announce, report back A messenger's word. The Twelve do not report to the crowd but to Christ, which is Henry's whole pastoral point: let ministers do and teach nothing they are unwilling to have told to their Lord.
αὐτῷautō. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
πάνταpantaof allG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
ὅσαhosa. . .G3745
√ ὅσος — as (much, great, long, etcPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἐποίησανepoiēsanthey had doneG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ποιέω: to make or do The deeds are named first and the teaching second. Maclaren hears the order as self-disclosure: they thought more of the miracles than of the message. The rest of the chapter will reverse it, since Jesus answers their success by teaching the crowd many things (v. 34) before He works anything.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὅσαhosaG3745
√ ὅσος — as (much, great, long, etcPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἐδίδαξανedidaxantaughtG1321
√ διδάσκω — to teach (in the same broad application)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
διδάσκω: to teach The second half of the report, and the hinge of the unit: the same verb returns in v. 34 with Jesus as subject. What the Twelve did in His name, He now does in person, and the feeding grows out of the teaching rather than replacing it.
31

And He said to them, “Come with Me privately to a solitary place, and let us rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai legei autois Deute kat’ hymeis autoi idian eis erēmon topon kai anapausasthe oligon gar polloi ēsan hoi erchomenoi kai hoi hypagontes kai oude eukairoun phagein

Word by word26 · parsed
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
λέγειlegeiHe saidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisto themG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ΔεῦτεDeuteComeG1205
√ δεῦτε — come hither!VerbImperative2nd Person Plural
δεῦτε: come hither The same summons Jesus uses in Mark 1:17, "Come after Me." Here it calls them not to labour but away from it, which is the point Ellicott marks as peculiar to Mark.
κατ’kat’with MeG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
ὑμεῖςhymeisvvvG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Plural
αὐτοὶautoiprivatelyG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἰδίανidian. . .G2398
√ ἴδιος — pertaining to self, iAdjectiveAccusative Feminine Singular
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ἔρημονerēmon[a] solitaryG2048
√ ἔρημος — desert, desolate, solitary, wildernessAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
ἔρημος: desert, solitary, wilderness The word governs the whole unit, recurring at v. 32 and again on the disciples' lips at v. 35. What Jesus chooses as a place of rest, they will shortly name as an objection: the wilderness is first a gift and then, to them, a problem. Behind both lies Israel's wilderness, where bread was the question and God was the answer (Exodus 16).
τόπονtoponplaceG5117
√ τόπος — a spot (general in space, but limited by occupancyNounAccusative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀναπαύσασθεanapausasthelet us restG373
√ ἀναπαύω — (reflexively) to repose (literally or figuratively (be exempt), remain)VerbAorist Imperative Middle2nd Person Plural
ἀναπαύω: to repose, be exempt, remain Aorist middle imperative. The only rest commanded in this chapter is never actually taken: the crowd outruns the boat. Mark leaves the command standing unfulfilled, which is part of his honesty about the cost of the ministry he has just described.
ὀλίγονoligonfor a whileG3641
√ ὀλίγος — puny (in extent, degree, number, duration or value)AdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
πολλοίpolloimany [people]G4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἦσανēsanwereG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἐρχόμενοιerchomenoicomingG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Masculine Plural
Present participle, "the ones coming," paired with "the ones going": a continuous two-way traffic, not a single crowd.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ὑπάγοντεςhypagontesgoingG5217
√ ὑπάγω — to lead (oneself) under, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οὐδὲoudevvvG3761
√ οὐδέ — not however, iAdverb
εὐκαίρουνeukairounthey did not even have timeG2119
√ εὐκαιρέω — to have good time, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
εὐκαιρέω: to have good opportunity, leisure A rare verb, found in only three verses of the New Testament, and Mark's dry way of measuring the pressure: not that they were busy, but that the very chance to eat was gone. The detail sets up the irony of the unit, in which those with no time to eat will be told to feed five thousand.
φαγεῖνphageinto eatG5315
√ φάγω — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
φάγω: to eat The first of six occurrences of this verb in the unit (vv. 31, 36, 37 twice, 42, 44). Eating is the thread Mark pulls from the disciples' hunger to the crowd's satisfaction.
32

So they went away in a boat by themselves to a solitary place.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai apēlthon en tō ploiō kat’ idian eis erēmon topon

Word by word10 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiSoG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀπῆλθονapēlthonthey went awayG565
√ ἀπέρχομαι — to go off (iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἀπέρχομαι: to go off, depart The same verb returns on the disciples' lips in v. 36 and 37, where the going away they now enjoy becomes what they propose for the hungry crowd. Mark lets the word turn: retreat for the Twelve, dismissal for the multitude.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
πλοίῳploiōa boatG4143
√ πλοῖον — a sailer, iNounDative Neuter Singular
πλοῖον: a sailer, boat The definite article suggests a particular boat. JFB and Cambridge locate the crossing toward Bethsaida-Julias on the northeastern shore, out of Herod Antipas' jurisdiction, which is a plausible political reading of a withdrawal that follows the Baptist's execution.
κατ’kat’byG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
ἰδίανidianthemselvesG2398
√ ἴδιος — pertaining to self, iAdjectiveAccusative Feminine Singular
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ἔρημονerēmona solitaryG2048
√ ἔρημος — desert, desolate, solitary, wildernessAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
ἔρημος: desert, solitary Repeated from v. 31 and repeated again in v. 35. Three times the same word: the place of intended rest becomes the place of the disciples' complaint and then the place of the table.
τόπονtoponplaceG5117
√ τόπος — a spot (general in space, but limited by occupancyNounAccusative Masculine Singular
33

But many people saw them leaving and recognized them. They ran together on foot from all the towns and arrived before them.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai polloi eidon autous hypagontas kai epegnōsan kai synedramon ekei pezē apo pasōn tōn poleōn kai proēlthon autous

Word by word18 · parsed
καὶkaiButG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πολλοίpolloimany [people]G4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
εἶδονeidonsawG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
αὐτοὺςautousthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ὑπάγονταςhypagontasleavingG5217
√ ὑπάγω — to lead (oneself) under, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveAccusative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐπέγνωσανepegnōsanrecognized [them]G1921
√ ἐπιγινώσκω — to know upon some mark, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐπιγινώσκω: to know upon a mark, recognize The crowd's knowledge is real but partial: they recognize the man and follow the miracles, and John 6:15 will show what they intend to do with Him. Maclaren is candid that curiosity drove them as much as any nobler impulse.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
συνέδραμονsynedramonThey ran togetherG4936
√ συντρέχω — to rush together (hastily assemble) or headlong (figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
συντρέχω: to rush together, assemble headlong A rare verb (three verses in the New Testament), used in Acts 3:11 of the crowd rushing at Solomon's portico after the lame man is healed. In both places a crowd converges on power it has just seen, which is Mark's quiet warning about the kind of following a miracle gathers.
ἐκεῖekeiG1563
√ ἐκεῖ — thereAdverb
πεζῇpezēon footG3979
√ πεζῇ — foot-wise, iAdverb
πεζῇ: on foot, by land Pulpit estimates the land distance at about twenty miles around the head of the lake, which measures the crowd's hunger for Him before any bread is mentioned.
ἀπὸapofromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
πασῶνpasōnallG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveGenitive Feminine Plural
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Plural
πόλεωνpoleōntownsG4172
√ πόλις — a town (properly, with walls, of greater or less size)NounGenitive Feminine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
προῆλθονproēlthonarrived beforeG4281
√ προέρχομαι — to go onward, precede (in place or time)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
προέρχομαι: to go onward, precede The crowd arrives ahead of the Lord who went to escape them. Mark's structure is deliberate: the failure of the retreat is the occasion of the miracle.
αὐτούςautousthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
34

When Jesus stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai exelthōn eiden polyn ochlon kai esplanchnisthē ep’ autous hoti ēsan hōs probata mē echonta poimena kai ērxato didaskein autous polla

Word by word21 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiWhenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐξελθὼνexelthōn[Jesus] stepped ashoreG1831
√ ἐξέρχομαι — to issue (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
εἶδενeiden[and] sawG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
πολὺνpolyna largeG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
ὄχλονochloncrowdG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐσπλαγχνίσθηesplanchnisthēHe had compassionG4697
√ σπλαγχνίζομαι — to have the bowels yearn, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
σπλαγχνίζομαι: to have the inward parts yearn Aorist passive. The verb belongs almost entirely to Jesus in the Gospels, and its object here is not sickness or hunger but shepherdlessness. Mark's sequence is exact: the compassion produces teaching first (v. 34) and bread only later (v. 41), so the deepest hunger named in the chapter is for a shepherd's voice.
ἐπ’ep’onG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
αὐτοὺςautousthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ὅτιhotibecauseG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἦσανēsanthey wereG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ὡςhōslikeG5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
πρόβαταprobatasheepG4263
√ πρόβατον — something that walks forward (a quadruped), iNounNominative Neuter Plural
πρόβατον: something that walks forward, a sheep With ποιμήν below, this is the language of Numbers 27:17, where Moses asks for a successor so the congregation will not be as sheep without a shepherd, and of 1 Kings 22:17 and Ezekiel 34:5. Mark writes in Greek and cannot share a Hebrew lexeme with those texts, so the link is a shared formula and motif, not a verbal quotation.
μὴmēvvvG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
ἔχονταechontawithoutG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Neuter Plural
ποιμέναpoimenaa shepherdG4166
√ ποιμήν — a shepherd (literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
ποιμήν: a shepherd The missing office is the whole diagnosis. Poole and Gill both name the failure concretely: the scribes and Pharisees were blind guides, so the people had no true pastors. Ezekiel 34 makes the same charge against Israel's shepherds and answers it with one Shepherd whom God will set over them.
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἤρξατοērxatoHe beganG756
√ ἄρχομαι — to commence (in order of time)VerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
ἄρχομαι: to commence Mark's habitual "he began to" with a present infinitive: the teaching goes on long enough for the day to run out, which is precisely what creates the crisis of v. 35.
διδάσκεινdidaskeinto teachG1321
√ διδάσκω — to teach (in the same broad application)VerbPresent Infinitive Active
διδάσκω: to teach The same verb the Twelve used of their own work in v. 30. What they reported doing, He now does, and the crowd that outran His rest receives the ministry the Twelve had been sent to give.
αὐτοὺςautousthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
πολλάpollamany thingsG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
35

By now the hour was already late. So the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is already late.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hōras genomenēs ēdē pollēs hoi mathētai proselthontes autō elegon autou hoti ho estin Erēmos topos kai hōra ēdē pollē

Word by word20 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiBy nowG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὥραςhōrasthe hourG5610
√ ὥρα — an "hour" (literally or figuratively)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
ὥρα: an hour Repeated twice in this one verse, framing the disciples' argument: the clock, not the Lord, is their authority for what is possible.
γενομένηςgenomenēswasG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Participle MiddleGenitive Feminine Singular
ἤδηēdēalreadyG2235
√ ἤδη — even nowAdverb
πολλῆςpollēslateG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveGenitive Feminine Singular
πολύς: much, many Mark rings this word through the whole unit: many coming and going (v. 31), many people (v. 33), a large crowd and many things taught (v. 34), and now the hour is much. The abundance of need is stated in the same word as the abundance of teaching, just before the abundance of bread.
οἱhoi[So] theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
προσελθόντεςproselthontescameG4334
√ προσέρχομαι — to approach, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
αὐτῷautōto [Jesus]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἔλεγονelegon[and] saidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
λέγω / ἔπω: to say Imperfect, "were saying." Mark records the disciples' repeated urging rather than a single remark, which sharpens the contrast with the single aorist imperative that answers them in v. 37.
αὐτοῦautouG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ὁhoThisG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἜρημόςErēmosa desolateG2048
√ ἔρημος — desert, desolate, solitary, wildernessAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἔρημος: desert, desolate Third occurrence in the unit. Israel's memory attaches to the word: it was in the wilderness that the people asked whether God could spread a table (Psalm 78:19), and the disciples here answer that question in advance, in the negative.
τόποςtoposplaceG5117
√ τόπος — a spot (general in space, but limited by occupancyNounNominative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὥραhōrathe hourG5610
√ ὥρα — an "hour" (literally or figuratively)NounNominative Feminine Singular
ἤδηēdē[is] alreadyG2235
√ ἤδη — even nowAdverb
πολλήpollēlateG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
36

Dismiss the crowd so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

apolyson autous hina apelthontes eis tous kyklō agrous kai kōmas agorasōsin heautois ti phagōsin

Word by word14 · parsed
ἀπόλυσονapolysonDismissG630
√ ἀπολύω — to free fully, iVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
ἀπολύω: to free fully, release, dismiss Aorist imperative, and the counter-proposal to everything the passage is about. The disciples ask Him to end the gathering He had compassion on; in v. 45, after the miracle, He does dismiss the crowd, but only when they are fed.
αὐτούςautous[the crowd]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἵναhinasoG2443
√ ἵνα — compare G3588 (ὁ))Conjunction
ἀπελθόντεςapelthontesthey can goG565
√ ἀπέρχομαι — to go off (iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
κύκλῳkyklōsurroundingG2945
√ κύκλῳ — akin to G2947 (κυλιόω))Adverb
κύκλῳ: in a circle, round about A light adverb: the farms lying in a ring around them.
ἀγροὺςagrouscountrysideG68
√ ἀγρός — a field (as a drive for cattle)NounAccusative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
κώμαςkōmasvillagesG2968
√ κώμη — a hamlet (as if laid down)NounAccusative Feminine Plural
ἀγοράσωσινagorasōsin[and] buyG59
√ ἀγοράζω — properly, to go to market, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
ἀγοράζω: to go to market, buy The market is the disciples' only category for supply, and it is the category the wilderness has removed. Gill notes plainly that they had brought no provisions and none were to be had in that place.
ἑαυτοῖςheautoisthemselvesG1438
√ ἑαυτοῦ — him- (her-, it-, them-, also (in conjunction with the personal pronoun of the other persons) my-, thy-, our-, your-) self (selves), etcReflexive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἑαυτοῦ: himself, themselves The reflexive is the pivot of the verse: let the crowd feed itself. Jesus answers in v. 37 by moving the pronoun, "you give them."
τίtisomethingG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
φάγωσινphagōsinto eatG5315
√ φάγω — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
37

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?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ho apokritheis eipen autois hymeis Dote autois phagein Kai legousin autō Apelthontes agorasōmen diakosiōn dēnariōn kai dōsomen autois artous phagein

Word by word21 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀποκριθεὶςapokritheis[Jesus] toldG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipen. . .G2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ὑμεῖςhymeisYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Plural
σύ: thou, you The emphatic plural pronoun, thrown forward. The whole exchange turns on pronouns: they said the crowd should buy for themselves, He says the Twelve shall give. The men who have just reported what they did in His name (v. 30) are now handed something they cannot do at all.
ΔότεDotegiveG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
δίδωμι: to give This imperative governs the rest of the unit. In v. 41 the same verb returns in the imperfect: He kept on giving to the disciples, so that the command of v. 37 is fulfilled only through His hands, not instead of theirs.
αὐτοῖςautoisthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
φαγεῖνphagein[something] to eatG5315
√ φάγω — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
λέγουσινlegousinThey askedG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
αὐτῷautōHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἈπελθόντεςApelthontesShould we go outG565
√ ἀπέρχομαι — to go off (iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἀγοράσωμενagorasōmen[and] spendG59
√ ἀγοράζω — properly, to go to market, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active1st Person Plural
διακοσίωνdiakosiōntwo hundredG1250
√ διακόσιοι — two hundredAdjectiveGenitive Neuter Plural
διακόσιοι: two hundred With δηνάριον, a labourer's daily wage (Matthew 20:2), this is roughly two hundred days of work. Cambridge notes the sum is peculiar to Mark and John; Gill reports that two hundred pence was also a proverbial legal figure in Jewish sources, a virgin's or widow's marriage portion.
δηναρίωνdēnariōndenariiG1220
√ δηνάριον — a denarius (or ten asses)NounGenitive Neuter Plural
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
δώσομενdōsomento giveG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbFuture Indicative Active1st Person Plural
δίδωμι: to give Future indicative. The disciples can conceive of giving only after buying; the miracle will reverse the order, and Barnes reads their question as wonder mixed with agitation at spending everything they have on one meal.
αὐτοῖςautoisall of themG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἄρτουςartousbreadG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounAccusative Masculine Plural
ἄρτος: bread, a loaf First occurrence of the word that will dominate the rest of the unit (vv. 37, 38, 41 twice, 44), and the word by which Jesus Himself will later recall this day (Mark 8:19).
φαγεῖνphageinto eatG5315
√ φάγω — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
38

“Go and see how many loaves you have,” He told them. And after checking, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

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Greek — tap a word ↓

hypagete idete Posous artous echete de Ho legei autois Kai gnontes legousin Pente kai dyo ichthyas

Word by word16 · parsed
ὑπάγετεhypageteGoG5217
√ ὑπάγω — to lead (oneself) under, iVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
ἴδετεidete[and] seeG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
ὁράω: to see, attend to Aorist imperative. Jesus' remedy for their arithmetic is not more money but a census of what they already hold, which is the pattern of the miracle: He begins from what is in their hands, not from nothing.
ΠόσουςPosoushow manyG4214
√ πόσος — interrogative pronoun (of amount) how much (large, long or (plural) many)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Masculine Plural
πόσος: how much, how many A relatively infrequent word (twenty-seven verses), and the very word Jesus will use in Mark 8:19-20 when He quizzes the Twelve about this day and the next feeding. The question asked here becomes the question asked against them later.
ἄρτουςartousloavesG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounAccusative Masculine Plural
ἔχετεecheteyou haveG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
λέγειlegeiHe toldG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ΚαὶKaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
γνόντεςgnontesafter checkingG1097
√ γινώσκω — to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with others not thus clearly expressed)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
γινώσκω: to know Aorist participle of coming to knowledge. JFB judges the five loaves and two fish were probably the whole stock at the disciples' command, no more than one meal for themselves, which makes the inventory an act of exposure.
λέγουσινlegousinthey saidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ΠέντεPenteFiveG4002
√ πέντε — "five"AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
δύοdyotwoG1417
√ δύο — "two"AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ἰχθύαςichthyasfishG2486
√ ἰχθύς — a fishNounAccusative Masculine Plural
ἰχθύς: a fish A comparatively infrequent noun (eighteen verses). Mark's plain word contrasts with John's small fish (John 6:9), and Pulpit notes the loaves were barley, considered an inferior and homely food, well below wheat.
39

Then Jesus directed them to have the people sit in groups on the green grass.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai epetaxen autois pantas anaklinai symposia symposia epi tō chlōrō chortō

Word by word11 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐπέταξενepetaxen[Jesus] directedG2004
√ ἐπιτάσσω — to arrange upon, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἐπιτάσσω: to arrange upon, command The same verb Mark uses when the unclean spirits are commanded and obey (Mark 1:27) is now used of seating a crowd, so the arrangement is an act of authority rather than crowd management. JFB reads the purpose plainly: it let the number fed be seen at a glance and let all witness the miracle in order.
αὐτοῖςautoisthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
πάνταςpantasvvvG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ἀνακλῖναιanaklinaito have [the people] sitG347
√ ἀνακλίνω — to lean backVerbAorist Infinitive Active
ἀνακλίνω: to lean back, recline The posture of a guest, not of a crowd on a hillside. Benson, following Campbell and Macknight, reconstructs the arrangement in detail, with the ranks facing each other up the slope so that all could see; that reconstruction is inference, but the reclining itself is Mark's word.
συμπόσιαsymposiavvvG4849
√ συμπόσιον — a drinking-party ("symposium"), iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
συμπόσιαsymposiain groupsG4849
√ συμπόσιον — a drinking-party ("symposium"), iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
συμπόσιον: a drinking-party, banquet company Doubled for distribution. Cambridge glosses it as an orderly social grouping, catervatim, and Ellicott as companies and companies. Of all the words available for a crowd, Mark chooses the one that means a feast, before there is any food.
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τῷtōtheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
χλωρῷchlōrōgreenG5515
√ χλωρός — greenish, iAdjectiveDative Masculine Singular
χλωρός: greenish, green A rare word (four verses). With ποιμένα of v. 34 it supplies the pairing of Psalm 23:1-2, shepherd and green pasture, though Mark makes no citation. Ellicott and Cambridge both read it as an indirect note of time agreeing with John 6:4 that the Passover was near.
χόρτῳchortōgrassG5528
√ χόρτος — a "court" or "garden", iNounDative Masculine Singular
40

So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

kai anepesan prasiai prasiai kata hekaton kai kata pentēkonta

Word by word9 · parsed
καὶkaiSoG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀνέπεσανanepesanthey sat downG377
√ ἀναπίπτω — to fall back, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἀναπίπτω: to fall back, recline The second reclining verb in two verses, and the same verb used of the beloved disciple leaning back at the Supper (John 13:25). Mark's hillside is furnished like a table.
πρασιαὶprasiaivvvG4237
√ πρασιά — a garden plot, iNounNominative Feminine Plural
πρασιαὶprasiaiin groupsG4237
√ πρασιά — a garden plot, iNounNominative Feminine Plural
πρασιά: a garden plot, a bed The most painterly word in the unit. Cambridge quotes Farrar: the coloured clothing of the seated poor called up in Peter's imagination a multitude of flowerbeds in a well-cultivated garden. Gill supplies a rabbinic parallel instead, the disciples of the wise seated in rows like a vineyard. Both readings are interpretations of one Greek word; what Mark gives is a wilderness suddenly looking like a garden.
κατὰkataofG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
ἑκατὸνhekatonhundredsG1540
√ ἑκατόν — a hundredAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ἑκατόν: a hundred With πεντήκοντα, a countable arrangement. JFB: doubtless this was to show at a glance the number fed, and to enable all to witness the miracle in an orderly manner. The seating is therefore evidence as well as courtesy.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
κατὰkataG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
πεντήκονταpentēkontafiftiesG4004
√ πεντήκοντα — fiftyAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
πεντήκοντα: fifty Luke 9:14 gives about fifty to a company; Mark has both figures. Cambridge cites Gerlach's reconstruction of two rows of a hundred and a shorter one of fifty, with the fourth side left open as at ancient tables, which is a plausible picture rather than a stated fact.
41

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, Jesus spoke a blessing and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to His disciples to set before the people. And He divided the two fish among them all.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai labōn tous pente artous kai tous dyo ichthyas anablepsas eis ton ouranon eulogēsen kai kateklasen tous artous kai edidou tois autou mathētais hina paratithōsin autois kai emerisen tous dyo ichthyas pasin

Word by word32 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
λαβὼνlabōnTakingG2983
√ λαμβάνω — while G138 (αἱρέομαι) is more violent, to seize or remove))VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
λαμβάνω: to take, receive First of the four verbs that recur at the Supper in Mark 14:22: took, blessed, broke, gave. Mark's own wording later repeats this wilderness meal exactly, which is the strongest ground for reading the two scenes together.
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
πέντεpentefiveG4002
√ πέντε — "five"AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ἄρτουςartousloavesG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounAccusative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
δύοdyotwoG1417
√ δύο — "two"AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ἰχθύαςichthyasfishG2486
√ ἰχθύς — a fishNounAccusative Masculine Plural
ἀναβλέψαςanablepsas[and] looking upG308
√ ἀναβλέπω — to look upVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἀναβλέπω: to look up Aorist participle. The direction of the look names the source: nothing in His hands is the origin of what follows. JFB adds that the gesture also made the act visible to the farthest company, which is why the ordered seating of vv. 39-40 matters.
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
οὐρανὸνouranonheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounAccusative Masculine Singular
εὐλόγησενeulogēsen[Jesus] spoke a blessingG2127
√ εὐλογέω — to speak well of, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
εὐλογέω: to speak well of, bless JFB calls this thanksgiving, offered over a meal for thousands, the crisis of the miracle. Cambridge places it in a Passover frame, a father giving thanks for natural gifts and covenant blessings before distributing to his household. Both are readings; Mark simply records that He blessed.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
κατέκλασενkateklasenbrokeG2622
√ κατακλάω — to break down, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
κατακλάω: to break down The intensive prefix (κατά, down) on the ordinary verb of breaking, in the aorist: one decisive act, not a series. The breaking is the hinge on which the supply turns, since everything before it is five loaves and everything after it is enough. Cambridge locates the multiplication precisely in the interval between this aorist and the imperfect that follows.
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ἄρτουςartousloavesG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounAccusative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐδίδουedidouHe gave [them]G1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
δίδωμι: to give Imperfect against the surrounding aorists. This is the answer to v. 37: He told them "you give," and now He keeps giving into their hands so that their giving is real but never their own supply.
τοῖςtoistoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
μαθηταῖςmathētaisdisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounDative Masculine Plural
ἵναhinatoG2443
√ ἵνα — compare G3588 (ὁ))Conjunction
παρατιθῶσινparatithōsinset beforeG3908
√ παρατίθημι — to place alongside, iVerbPresent Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
παρατίθημι: to place alongside, set before Present subjunctive, a continuous serving. The Twelve who calculated two hundred denarii end up as waiters at a table they could not have provisioned, which Pulpit is honest to call beyond our reason to explain.
αὐτοῖςautois[the people]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐμέρισενemerisenHe dividedG3307
√ μερίζω — to part, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
μερίζω: to part, divide The fish are divided among them all; Gill notes that the Syriac and Persic read "they divided," making the apostles the subject. Either way Mark ends the verse with πᾶσιν, all: nobody is served a portion of the miracle and nobody is left out of it.
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
δύοdyotwoG1417
√ δύο — "two"AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ἰχθύαςichthyasfishG2486
√ ἰχθύς — a fishNounAccusative Masculine Plural
πᾶσινpasinamong them allG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveDative Masculine Plural
42

They all ate and were satisfied,

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Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai pantes ephagon kai echortasthēsan

Word by word5 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πάντεςpantes{They} allG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἔφαγονephagonateG5315
√ φάγω — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
φάγω: to eat The verb that has organized the whole unit reaches its aorist. What the disciples had no leisure for and could not purchase is simply done.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐχορτάσθησανechortasthēsanwere satisfiedG5526
√ χορτάζω — to fodder, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
χορτάζω: to fodder, feed full The key word of the verse and the theological point of the unit in one term. Built from χόρτος, grass or fodder, it is what a shepherd does to a flock; Mark called them sheep without a shepherd in v. 34 and seats them on green grass in v. 39, and here they are pastured full. John 6:11 adds "as much as they would," which JFB takes as proof that the meal was plentiful and not a token.
43

and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

kai ēran dōdeka kophinōn plērōmata klasmata kai apo tōn ichthyōn

Word by word10 · parsed
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἦρανēran[the disciples] picked upG142
√ αἴρω — to lift upVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
αἴρω: to lift up, take away The last action of the miracle belongs to the disciples, not to Jesus. Those who said it could not be done carry away the proof, and in Mark 8:19 Jesus asks them how many baskets they took up, using this very fact against their later unbelief.
δώδεκαdōdekatwelveG1427
√ δώδεκα — two and ten, iAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
δώδεκα: twelve Mark records the number and interprets nothing. Pulpit suggests one basket for each apostle, each bringing back more than he received; the further reading, that twelve answers the tribes of Israel, is a legitimate inference the text does not state.
κοφίνωνkophinōnbasketfulsG2894
√ κόφινος — a (small) basketNounGenitive Masculine Plural
κόφινος: a small wicker basket JFB and Cambridge both note that all four Evangelists use kophinos here and spuris for the four thousand, and that Jesus keeps the distinction in Mark 8:19-20. JFB treats the agreement as a striking corroboration of the truth of the four narratives, and Cambridge quotes Juvenal's jibe about the Jews whose furniture is a basket and hay.
πληρώματαplērōmata. . .G4138
√ πλήρωμα — repletion or completion, iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
πλήρωμα: repletion, completion, that which fills The word Paul will use of the fullness of God and of time. Here it is concrete: twelve baskets' worth of fullness, and more than the original supply, which Pulpit calls a striking testimony to the reality of the miracle.
κλάσματαklasmataof broken pieces of breadG2801
√ κλάσμα — a piece (bit)NounAccusative Neuter Plural
κλάσμα: a piece, fragment The remainder of the breaking. Henry draws the plainest lesson in this unit: Christ teaches us not to waste any of God's bounties, since we may some time need the fragments that we now throw away.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀπὸapoG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἰχθύωνichthyōnfishG2486
√ ἰχθύς — a fishNounGenitive Masculine Plural
44

And there were five thousand men who had eaten the loaves.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

kai ēsan pentakischilioi andres hoi phagontes tous artous

Word by word8 · parsed
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἦσανēsanthere wereG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
πεντακισχίλιοιpentakischilioifive thousandG4000
√ πεντακισχίλιοι — five times a thousandAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
πεντακισχίλιοι: five thousand The number Jesus recites back in Mark 8:19. JFB reasons that women and children were probably not many here, since only the males were obliged to go up to the approaching festival; that is an inference from the Passover setting drawn from John 6:4, not from Mark.
ἄνδρεςandresmenG435
√ ἀνήρ — a man (properly as an individual male)NounNominative Masculine Plural
ἀνήρ: a man, properly an adult male Mark's choice of noun makes the count a minimum rather than a total. Cambridge adds that the women and children would not have reclined with the men but sat or stood apart, which is custom rather than text.
οἱhoiwhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
φαγόντεςphagonteshad eatenG5315
√ φάγω — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
φάγω: to eat The unit's governing verb in its last form. It began with disciples who had no leisure to eat and ends with five thousand identified as those who have eaten, and the bread they ate was the bread the disciples were told to give.
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ἄρτουςartousloavesG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounAccusative Masculine Plural
ἄρτος: bread, a loaf Fifth and last occurrence. Mark's final word is the small stock of v. 38, now the food of a multitude, and he offers no comment on it whatever; the interpretation is left to John 6 and to the reader.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The report, and the rest that was commanded but never taken — Mark 6:30-32

⚙ Mark opens with the one place in his Gospel where he calls the Twelve ἀπόστολοι, and Pulpit marks exactly that: this is the only place where St. Mark calls them apostles. They come back and ἀπήγγειλαν, they render a messenger's report, and Gill presses it into a rule for every Gospel minister, that he must give an account of his ministrations to Christ. Maclaren notices the order of the report, deeds before teaching, and hears in it that they thought more of the miracles than of the message; that is Maclaren's inference from a silence, honestly labelled. The answer to their success is not praise but ἀναπαύσασθε, an aorist middle imperative: rest yourselves. Ellicott observes that the tender invitation to rest awhile and the picture of the throng coming and going are peculiar to Mark. The rare verb εὐκαίρουν (three verses in the whole New Testament) measures the pressure precisely: not that they were busy, but that the chance to eat had gone. They obey in the very words of the command, going in the boat kat' idian into an erēmos place, and Pulpit takes the definite article of τῷ πλοίῳ to mean the boat kept always in attendance, which is an inference from grammar rather than a reported fact.

ii. Outrun by the crowd, and the shepherdless sheep — Mark 6:33-34

⚙ The retreat fails. συνέδραμον, a rare verb of headlong convergence found in only three New Testament verses, and προῆλθον, they got there first. Ellicott points the contrast the adverb pezē makes: the disciples came in their boat, the crowds came by land, and Pulpit reckons that land route at about twenty miles. JFB calls the whole sentence exceedingly graphic, every touch betokening an eyewitness, which is an argument about the Gospel's origin rather than a claim of Mark's. Then the hinge of the unit: ἐσπλαγχνίσθη, aorist passive of a verb meaning to have the inward parts yearn. Its object is not hunger or sickness but shepherdlessness. Poole names the cause without flinching, that they had such teachers as were as bad or worse than none, and Gill agrees that the scribes and Pharisees were blind guides so that the people were ready to perish for lack of knowledge. Pulpit adds Chrysostom's harder verdict, that they were wolves rather than pastors. And the compassion produces teaching first: ἤρξατο διδάσκειν, the same verb the Twelve had just used of their own work. Before any bread, the Shepherd's voice.

iii. The arithmetic of the possible — Mark 6:35-38

⚙ The disciples' objection is built out of Jesus' own vocabulary turned against Him: ἔρημός is what He called the place when He chose it, and now it is the reason nothing can be done. Ellicott notes that the Greek word for the hour being far spent is the same in both clauses of v. 35, and Pulpit prefers the imperfect ἔλεγον, they were saying, a repeated pressing. Their remedy is commerce: ἀγοράσωσιν ἑαυτοῖς, let them go to market for themselves, in the ἀγρούς which Ellicott renders better as the farms, the enclosed cultivated land and what belonged to it. Jesus answers by moving the pronoun: ὑμεῖς δότε, you give them. Gill reads the command as a trial of their faith that makes way for the miracle; Geneva hears their reply as a kind of demand and wondering with a subtle mockery; Barnes hears wonder mixed with agitation at spending their whole purse on one meal. Cambridge quotes Lightfoot's observation that the denarius in the New Testament almost always carries the idea of a large amount which the English rendering makes absurdly small. Then the inventory: five and two. JFB judges it was probably the whole stock of provisions at the disciples' command, no more than enough for one meal to them, and Pulpit adds from John 6:9 that the loaves were barley, an inferior and homely food.

iv. Garden plots on the green grass — Mark 6:39-40

⚙ Mark's two reduplications are the most painterly thing in the unit. Ellicott explains that the Greek expresses the distributive force by simple repetition, companies and companies, and Geneva glosses συμπόσια literally as banquets, after the manner of the Hebrews who have no distributive words. Then πρασιαὶ πρασιαί: Ellicott notes that the primary meaning is a bed of flowers or herbs, and Cambridge quotes Farrar's reading that the coloured clothing of the seated crowd called up in Peter's imagination a multitude of flowerbeds in a well-cultivated garden. Gill supplies a different and equally concrete image from the rabbis, that the disciples of the wise sat in rows like a vineyard. Two things follow. JFB says the arrangement was doubtless to show at a glance the number fed and to let all witness the miracle in an orderly manner. And the grass is χλωρῷ, green, which Cambridge notes only Mark mentions, still fresh in the spring of the year before it had faded in the summer sun: an undesigned time-stamp agreeing with John 6:4.

v. Taking, blessing, breaking, giving, and twelve baskets over — Mark 6:41-44

⚙ Four participles and verbs in sequence: λαβών, ἀναβλέψας, εὐλόγησεν, κατέκλασεν, then ἐδίδου in the imperfect. JFB calls the thanksgiving and benediction the crisis of the miracle, and adds that in handing the bread to the disciples to set before the people He was virtually holding forth these men as His future ministers. Cambridge marks the tense difference precisely: the first verb denotes an instantaneous act, the second a continuous one, and the multiplication went on in the hands of Christ between the breaking and the distributing. Pulpit agrees that ἐδίδου would be better rendered "he was giving," and is honest that in considering the miraculous action our reason is baffled. Benson, whose note covers the whole section, goes further and argues that the food grew in the people's hands as well; that is an inference about mechanism, and Mark does not say it. Then ἐχορτάσθησαν, a verb from foddering animals: they were pastured full, which is what sheep with a shepherd get. Twelve κοφίνων πληρώματα remain, and JFB and Cambridge both note that all four Gospels use kophinos here and spuris at the feeding of the four thousand, a distinction Jesus Himself preserves in Mark 8:19-20. Cambridge says the gathering was in obedience to a command, to teach that wastefulness even of miraculous power was wholly alien to the Divine economy; Henry turns it on the reader, that we may some time need the fragments we now throw away. Ellicott closes the count honestly: Mark uses the word ἄνδρες, which excludes women and children.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested against Scripture. Mark has built the unit on a single reversal of pronouns. The disciples say let them buy for themselves; Jesus says you give them. Neither the crowd's self-supply nor the Twelve's purse is the answer, and the answer when it comes is not a shortcut around their hands but a stream through them: He kept giving to the disciples, and they kept setting it before the people. The order of the chapter is the argument. Compassion looks at a crowd and sees shepherdlessness before it sees hunger; it answers first with teaching, and only then with bread. So the miracle is not a demonstration of power attached to the sermon, it is the sermon in another form, which is why Jesus rebukes the Twelve later for not understanding about the loaves (Mark 6:52; 8:17-21). The wilderness setting is not incidental either. Israel's question in the wilderness was whether God could spread a table there (Psalm 78:19), and the disciples answer no, in the language of denarii. The twelve baskets are the reply: not merely enough, but a full basket for each of the men who had said it could not be done. Here is the honest limit of this reading. Mark states no interpretation of the twelve, no Passover date, no eucharistic gloss; those come from John, from the later Supper, and from the Church's reading back. What Mark states is smaller and harder: that the hands told to give were empty, that they were filled by being emptied, and that everyone was pastured full. The line that follows is a synthesis line, not Scripture.

The wilderness is where God still sets the table, and the hands He fills first are the hands He commands to empty.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

One day, four witnesses: the only miracle all four Evangelists record structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Maclaren states the fact plainly, that this is the only miracle recorded by all four Evangelists, and JFB marks the same point, that here for the first time all four streams of sacred text run parallel. The Verifier confirms real lexical overlap with Luke 9:16, Matthew 14:19 and John 6:13, but the shared words (ὄχλος, μαθητής, ἄρτος) are common Gospel vocabulary, not rare. So the link is literary and structural, a shared account of a shared event, and the tier stays below quotation. What the parallels mostly supply is detail Mark omits: Bethsaida (Luke 9:10), the barley loaves and the lad (John 6:9), and the command to gather the fragments (John 6:12).

Luke 9:16 · Matthew 14:19 · John 6:13 · Luke 9:12

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes with Luke 9:16 and Matthew 14:19, G3793 ὄχλος (in 170 vv), G3101 μαθητής (in 247 vv), G740 ἄρτος (in 89 vv); with John 6:13, G4863 συνάγω (in 59 vv) and G740 ἄρτος. All frequent lexemes, so this is a parallel narrative of one event, not a quotation of one text by another

"How many baskets did you take up?" Jesus quotes this day back to the Twelve verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ In Mark 8:19 Jesus cites this feeding by its own numbers, five loaves among five thousand and twelve kophinoi taken up, and Matthew 16:9 records the same rebuke. This is an explicit citation of the present passage inside the New Testament, and the Verifier's shared lexemes include the interrogative πόσος, which is relatively infrequent. JFB and Cambridge both note the corroborating detail: all four narratives here use kophinos, the small wicker basket a Jewish traveller carried, while both accounts of the four thousand use spuris, and Jesus Himself keeps the two words distinct in Mark 8:19-20. Both refs are New Testament, so the verbal tier involves no cross-Testament claim.

Mark 8:19 · Matthew 16:9

basis: Explicit NT citation: Mark 8:19 quotes this event's numbers back to the disciples. Verifier: shared G740 ἄρτος (in 89 vv) and G4214 πόσος (in 27 vv); the κόφινος / σπυρίς distinction is preserved across both feedings. Greek to Greek, no Testament crossing

Sheep without a shepherd: a formula Israel already knew structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ "As sheep not having a shepherd" is not Mark's coinage. Moses asks for a successor lest the congregation be as sheep which have no shepherd (Numbers 27:17); Micaiah sees Israel scattered on the hills as sheep that have no shepherd (1 Kings 22:17); Ezekiel indicts the shepherds of Israel because the flock was scattered for want of one (Ezekiel 34:5-8) and promises one Shepherd, God's servant David, set over them (Ezekiel 34:23). Poole and Gill read Mark 6:34 as precisely that indictment renewed against the scribes and Pharisees. The link cannot be tiered verbal: Mark writes Greek and the Hebrew texts share no Strong's number with him, so no verbal basis can be computed. What can be said is that Mark uses a fixed Old Testament formula, and the compassion it triggers issues in teaching, which is what a shepherd does before he feeds.

Numbers 27:17 · 1 Kings 22:17 · Ezekiel 34:5 · Ezekiel 34:23

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so shared Strong's numbers are impossible and no verbal tier is available. The basis is a recurring Old Testament formula and its motif of leaderless Israel, with no quotation formula in Mark's text

Can God spread a table in the wilderness? typological

⚙ The disciples' objection in v. 35 is Israel's old question in new clothes: "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?" (Psalm 78:19), asked of the God who had already given manna in the desert of Sin (Exodus 16:1-35). Psalm 107:4-9 describes wanderers in a desert way, hungry and thirsty, whose soul fainted, and says He satisfies the longing soul; Psalm 23:1-2 puts the shepherd and the green pasture in one breath, which is exactly Mark's pairing of ποιμένα (v. 34) with χλωρῷ χόρτῳ (v. 39). ⚙ This is a figural reading, not a claim that Mark cites these texts; he gives no quotation formula and the languages differ. It is, however, an ancient and widely held way of hearing the scene, and the green grass is Mark's own detail, not an interpreter's addition.

Exodus 16:15 · Psalm 78:19 · Psalm 23:2 · Psalm 107:9

basis: Figural, ancient and widely held. Cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's lexeme is computable and no verbal tier is possible; the basis is the wilderness-provision pattern (manna, the doubted table, the shepherd's green pasture) which Mark's own vocabulary of ἔρημος, ποιμήν and χλωρὸς χόρτος tracks

Elisha's twenty loaves, and food to spare typological

⚙ Cambridge itself sends the reader to 2 Kings 4:42-44 at Mark 6:41: a man brings twenty barley loaves, the servant objects "What, should I set this before a hundred men?", and the word of the Lord is that they shall eat and leave some over, and they did. The shape is identical, and Mark's account is the greater case at every point: five loaves rather than twenty, five thousand rather than a hundred, and twelve baskets rather than a remnant. John 6:9 specifies that Mark's loaves too were barley. ⚙ The reading is figural and is offered as such; there is no quotation and no computable lexical basis across the languages.

2 Kings 4:42 · 2 Kings 4:43 · 2 Kings 4:44

basis: Figural, and explicitly cross-referenced by the Cambridge Bible at Mark 6:41. Cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's lexeme exists and the verbal tier is unavailable; the basis is the matched sequence of scant barley loaves, a servant's objection, a command to set it before the many, satisfaction, and surplus

The green grass: a rare word, and a season verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ Mark alone says the grass was χλωρός (G5515), a word standing in only four New Testament verses, on χόρτος (G5528, thirteen verses). The Verifier pairs this verse with Revelation 9:4, where the locusts are told to harm neither the grass of the earth nor any green thing, and the same rare pair occurs. ⚙ The connection is lexical, not thematic dependence: Revelation is not citing Mark. What the rare word actually earns is Cambridge's and Ellicott's point about season, that the grass was still fresh in the spring before the summer sun faded it, which agrees undesignedly with John 6:4 that the Passover was near.

Revelation 9:4

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexemes G5515 χλωρός (in 4 vv) and G5528 χόρτος (in 13 vv), Greek to Greek. The rarity is real and confirms a genuine verbal link; it does not imply literary dependence, and no quotation is claimed in either direction

No leisure even to eat: a verb used only three times verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ εὐκαιρέω (G2119), "to have good opportunity," occurs in only three verses of the New Testament. Mark uses it of disciples with no free moment to eat; Paul uses it of Apollos, who would come when he had opportunity (1 Corinthians 16:12); Luke uses it acidly of the Athenians, who spent their leisure in nothing but telling or hearing some new thing (Acts 17:21). ⚙ Set together they frame a small honest question about how time is spent, but the link is lexical only, and no author is drawing on another.

1 Corinthians 16:12 · Acts 17:21

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexeme G2119 εὐκαιρέω (in 3 vv), all occurrences Greek to Greek within the NT. Rarity confirms a real verbal link between the three passages; no quotation or dependence is claimed

Rushing together: the crowd that converges on power verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ συντρέχω (G4936), to rush together, stands in only three New Testament verses. One is Acts 3:11, where the people run together to Peter and John in Solomon's portico after the lame man is healed. ⚙ The parallel is worth noting with care: in both places a crowd converges on the sight of power, and in both a sermon follows rather than a spectacle. Mark says nothing about the crowd's motive; Maclaren judges that curiosity drove them as much as any nobler impulse, and adds that we must not be too particular about the reasons that bring people to Jesus.

Acts 3:11

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexeme G4936 συντρέχω (in 3 vv), Greek to Greek within the NT. The rarity confirms the verbal link; the thematic reading of crowd-convergence is synthesis and is marked as such

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The one Shepherd of Ezekiel 34, standing on the shore ancient/widely-held

⚙ Ezekiel's charge is that Israel's shepherds fed themselves and not the flock, so the sheep were scattered with no shepherd and became food for beasts; his answer is that God will set up one Shepherd over them, His servant David, and will feed them (Ezekiel 34:5-8, 23). Mark 6:34 puts a man on a shore looking at exactly that flock, moved in His inward parts, and He does the two things the promised Shepherd is said to do: He teaches them, and then He feeds them until they are pastured full (ἐχορτάσθησαν, a verb of foddering). Poole, Gill and Pulpit all read the verse as an indictment of the failed shepherds of Israel; John 10:11 names the identification openly, "I am the good shepherd." This is the ancient and widely held reading, and the ground for it is in Mark's own vocabulary rather than in the later Gospel alone.

Ezekiel 34:23 · Psalm 23:1 · John 10:11 · Mark 6:34

Took, blessed, broke, gave: the shape of the Supper before the Supper ancient/widely-held

⚙ The four verbs of Mark 6:41, λαβών … εὐλόγησεν … κατέκλασεν … ἐδίδου, are the same four Mark uses at the table in 14:22 (took, blessed, broke, gave) and Luke uses at Emmaus in 24:30. Cambridge already reads v. 41 in a Passover key, saying He gave thanks as the father surrounded by his household was accustomed to do, and distributed the food as the father did at the Paschal meal. JFB adds that in handing the loaves to the disciples to set before the people He was virtually holding forth these men as His future ministers. ⚙ The honest limit: Mark draws no such line himself, and the formula is also simply the ordinary Jewish grace before a meal, as Cambridge concedes. What can be said without overclaiming is that the Evangelist's own wording at the Supper repeats this wilderness meal exactly, and John 6 makes the bread explicit, "I am the bread of life."

Mark 14:22 · Luke 24:30 · John 6:35

Greater than Elisha, greater than the manna ancient/widely-held

⚙ Two Old Testament provisions stand behind the scene, and in both the Gospel account is the larger term. Elisha feeds a hundred from twenty barley loaves and there is food left over (2 Kings 4:42-44); Christ feeds five thousand men from five, with twelve baskets over. Moses is the mediator through whom manna comes daily in the wilderness (Exodus 16); here the bread is not gathered from the ground but multiplied in a man's hands. Pulpit is careful and worth following: this is not creation out of nothing, since there was the nucleus of the five loaves and the two fishes, but an act of creative development, and in considering it our reason is baffled. ⚙ The redemptive-historical claim is therefore modest and, I think, warranted: the prophet's sign and the wilderness bread are both surpassed here by the one who gives rather than the one who transmits.

2 Kings 4:44 · Exodus 16:15 · Mark 6:41

The twelve baskets and the twelve who said it could not be done novel

⚙ Mark records the number twelve without a word of explanation. Pulpit suggests that the loaves were distributed into twelve baskets, one for each apostle, and that each brought back more than he had received. Taking that further, that the count answers the twelve tribes of Israel and so signals a flock gathered and fed in full, is a reading the text permits and does not state. ⚙ I mark it as my own, and hold it loosely: what the number certainly does in Mark is give Jesus the evidence He will later use against the Twelve themselves in 8:19, when the men who carried the surplus have forgotten it.

Mark 6:43 · Mark 8:19

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (c. 1905)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Text and sources for this unit, with what is uncertain stated plainly.

Text. The Greek shows two places where the English settles a manuscript question silently. At v. 33 Pulpit reports the better authorities as reading "and many knew them" rather than "knew him," and JFB agrees; Gill notes the Syriac and Ethiopic support "them." At v. 36 Ellicott reports that the better manuscripts give simply "buy themselves what they may eat," without the added clause "for they have nothing to eat." At v. 35 Pulpit notes that the present participle γενομένης appears in the Sinaitic Manuscript and the Cambridge Codex, and prefers the imperfect ἔλεγον, "were saying." The interlinear supplied in the brief lists ἔλεγον under G2036 (ἔπω) at v. 35 while the same lexical family appears as G3004 (λέγω) elsewhere in the unit; both Strong's numbers stand for the suppletive paradigm of "to say" and nothing in the reading turns on which is cited.

What is imported rather than stated. Mark gives no date, no location by name, no barley, no lad, and no command to gather the fragments. Bethsaida comes from Luke 9:10, the Passover season and the barley loaves and the gathering command from John 6, the exclusion of women and children from Matthew 14:21. Commentators harmonize freely here: Cambridge and JFB both reconstruct the order of the conversation from John 6:5-7, and JFB is honest that the precise order and form of what each said can hardly be gathered with precision. Where the commentators infer, I have said so in the editorial notes rather than passing the inference on as Mark's.

Cross-references. Every Old Testament link in this unit (the shepherdless sheep, the wilderness table, Elisha's loaves) is cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's lexeme can be computed and none is tiered verbal; each is marked structural or typological with the reason given in its basis. The three threads tiered verbal (Revelation 9:4, 1 Corinthians 16:12 with Acts 17:21, Acts 3:11) rest on genuinely rare shared Greek lexemes reported by the Verifier, and in each case the badge says explicitly that a rare lexeme is not a claim of literary dependence. The Mark 8:19 thread is tiered verbal because it is an explicit citation of this event within the New Testament.

Where the synthesis goes beyond the sources. The reading of the pronoun reversal between v. 36 and v. 37, the observation that the sequence teaching-then-bread is itself the argument, and the suggestion that the twelve baskets answer the twelve who objected, are mine and fallible. The twelve-baskets Christ entry is marked novel for that reason. Benson's claim that the food multiplied in the people's hands as well as in Christ's is his inference about mechanism, not a statement of Mark's, and is flagged where it is quoted.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)