The Fallible Study Bible

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Mark8:1–10

The Feeding of the Four Thousand

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Mark 8:1–10 — The Feeding of the Four 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.

1

In those days the crowd once again became very large, and they had nothing to eat. Jesus called the disciples to Him and said,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

En ekeinais tais hēmerais ochlou palin ontos pollou kai echontōn mē ti phagōsin proskalesamenos tous mathētas legei autois

Word by word18 · parsed
ἘνEnInG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ἐκείναιςekeinaisthoseG1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounDative Feminine Plural
ταῖςtaisG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Plural
ἡμέραιςhēmeraisdaysG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounDative Feminine Plural
ὄχλουochlou[the] crowdG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounGenitive Masculine Singular
πάλινpalinonce againG3825
√ πάλιν — (adverbially) anew, iAdverb
palin: again, anew The hinge of the whole unit. Pulpit weighs the reading here and prefers πάλιν πόλλου to the otherwise unattested παμπόλλου, suggesting that an old ecclesiastical Lection beginning at this chapter may have prompted the substitution, to make the reading self contained and avoid the backward glance at the context. If Pulpit is right, the textual history itself records an early impulse to cut this feeding loose from the first one, and Mark's own word resists it.
ὄντοςontosbecameG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Singular
eimi: to be (present participle, genitive) Genitive absolute. The participle holds the whole scene in suspense, and the shift Pulpit observes from singular ὄχλος to plural ἐχόντων is the evangelist's way of letting a throng become hungry mouths. The Revised Version, Pulpit says, marks it properly with a great multitude, and they had nothing to eat.
πολλοῦpollouvery largeG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐχόντωνechontōnthey hadG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Plural
echō: to have, to hold Present participle: the having is a settled state, not a moment. Gill is concrete about it: whatever they brought with them was expended, and they were in a desert where nothing was to be had, nor bought for money. Money is no help where there is no market.
μὴmēnothingG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
τίtivvvG5101
√ 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
phagō: to eat Aorist subjunctive in a deliberative question absorbed into the narrative. The same verb returns twice more in this unit, at 8:2 in Jesus' mouth and at 8:8 as plain indicative, ἔφαγον, they ate. The question of v. 1 is answered by the indicative of v. 8 and by nothing in between.
προσκαλεσάμενοςproskalesamenos[Jesus] calledG4341
√ προσκαλέομαι — to call toward oneself, iVerbAorist Participle MiddleNominative Masculine Singular
proskaleomai: to call toward oneself Aorist middle, and a relatively uncommon verb (the Verifier counts it in 29 verses), shared with the Matthean parallel at Matthew 15:32. Mark's Jesus convenes the Twelve around a need they have not noticed, which is exactly the posture that makes their answer in v. 4 so exposed.
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
μαθητὰςmathētasdisciples {to Him}G3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounAccusative Masculine Plural
λέγειlegei[and] saidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
legō: to say Historic present after a string of participles: he says. Mark's habitual device for pulling the reader into the moment of speech.
αὐτοῖςautoisG846
√ 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
2

“I have compassion for this crowd, because they have already been with Me three days and have nothing to eat.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Splanchnizomai epi ton ochlon hoti prosmenousin ēdē moi treis hēmerai kai echousin ouk ti phagōsin

Word by word15 · parsed
ΣπλαγχνίζομαιSplanchnizomaiI have compassionG4697
√ σπλαγχνίζομαι — to have the bowels yearn, iVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive1st Person Singular
splanchnizomai: to be moved in the inward parts The strongest compassion verb in the Gospels, and it stands first in the sentence, before the crowd is even named. JFB records that it is an expression of that deep emotion in the Redeemer's heart which always preceded some remarkable interposition for relief, and gathers the parallels (Matthew 14:14, 20:34, Mark 1:41, Luke 7:13, Matthew 9:36) alongside the Judges texts where the LORD's soul is grieved for Israel's misery. Gill divides the compassion two ways, on their souls, whom he had been teaching, and on their bodies, whom he had been healing. Barnes reduces it to I pity their condition, which is the one rendering the Greek will not bear.
ἐπὶepiforG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τὸνton[this]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ὄχλονochloncrowdG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
ochlos: a throng Accusative after ἐπί: the compassion comes down upon the crowd. Mark uses the same noun of the same people three times in this unit (8:1, 8:2, 8:6), and each time they are the object of something done to them, never the agents.
ὅτιhotibecauseG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
προσμένουσίνprosmenousinthey have already beenG4357
√ προσμένω — to stay further, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
prosmenō: to stay on, to continue with Present tense, and Gill counts the cost of it precisely: two nights and three days with no house to go into, nor bed to lie upon, and no provisions to be bought. Pulpit says they were esteeming his words to be more than their necessary food. The verb makes the crowd's hunger a by-product of their attachment, which is why the feeding is mercy and not reward.
ἤδηēdē. . .G2235
√ ἤδη — even nowAdverb
μοιmoiwith MeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounDative 1st Person Singular
τρεῖςtreisthreeG5140
√ τρεῖς — "three"AdjectiveNominative Feminine Plural
treis: three Cambridge notes that Matthew's parallel records upwards of four thousand besides women and children who continued with Him upwards of three days. JFB lists the three days as one of the hard differences from the feeding of the five thousand, where not even one entire day had passed, and treats it as evidence that these are two events and not one story told twice. ⚙ Readers often hear resurrection overtones in any three days, and we decline to claim them here: Mark's phrase is a nominative of duration measuring how long the crowd has gone without food, and nothing in the passage or in any voice in this brief presses it further.
ἡμέραιhēmeraidaysG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounNominative Feminine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἔχουσινechousinhaveG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
echō: to have The same verb as 8:1, now in Jesus' mouth and in the indicative. He states their emptiness as his own knowledge of it, not as something reported to him.
οὐκouknothingG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
τίtivvvG5101
√ 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
phagō: to eat The unanswered subjunctive again, repeated verbatim from v. 1. Mark lets Jesus quote the narrator, so that the reader knows the Lord's account of the situation and the evangelist's are identical.
3

If I send them home hungry, they will faint along the way. For some of them have come a great distance.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai ean apolysō autous eis autōn oikon nēsteis eklythēsontai en tē hodō kai tines autōn hēkasin apo makrothen

Word by word18 · parsed
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐὰνeanIfG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
ἀπολύσωapolysōI sendG630
√ ἀπολύω — to free fully, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active1st Person Singular
apolyō: to release, to dismiss Aorist subjunctive in the protasis of a real condition: if I release them. The sovereignty is entirely his, which is what makes the refusal in v. 3 and the dismissal in v. 9 the two ends of one decision.
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
εἰςeisvvvG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
αὐτῶνautōnvvvG846
√ 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 Plural
οἶκονoikonhomeG3624
√ οἶκος — a dwelling (more or less extensive, literal or figurative)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
νήστειςnēsteishungryG3523
√ νῆστις — not eating, iAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
nēstis: not eating, fasting Accusative plural, agreeing with them: he would be sending fasting men away. The word is the ordinary religious term for going without food, and Mark's choice of it quietly dignifies what the crowd has been doing for three days: they have been fasting at a sermon, and he will not let the fast end in collapse.
ἐκλυθήσονταιeklythēsontaithey will faintG1590
√ ἐκλύω — to relax (literally or figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
ekluō: to loosen out, to unstring Future passive. Geneva's gloss is the most physical reading in the brief: when men faint they tear their muscles. The same verb stands behind the New Testament warnings against growing faint in the soul (Hebrews 12:3, 12:5), a resonance we note as our own (⚙) since the Verifier did not compute those verses; the point in Mark is bodily and plain.
ἐνenalongG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῇtētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
ὁδῷhodōwayG3598
√ ὁδός — a roadNounDative Feminine Singular
hodos: a road, a way Dative with ἐν: they will come apart on the road. Mark's Gospel is much concerned with the road (the way of the Lord in 1:3, the way to Jerusalem later), and the Lord who will not let his people collapse on it is the same Lord who is about to set out on it himself.
καίkaiForG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τινεςtinessomeG5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Plural
αὐτῶνautōnof 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 PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἥκασινhēkasinhave comeG2240
√ ἥκω — to arrive, iVerbPerfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
hēkō: to have arrived, to be come Perfect indicative, which Pulpit says makes the clause almost of necessity a part of our Lord's own words going before, reading καὶ τινές rather than τινὲς γάρ. The consequence matters: it is Jesus, not the evangelist, who notices where this crowd is from.
ἀπὸapovvvG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
μακρόθενmakrothena great distanceG3113
√ μακρόθεν — from a distance or afarAdverb
makrothen: from a distance, from afar Adverb, with ἀπό piled in front of it for emphasis. Gill guesses at the geography, some from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, some from Decapolis, others from different parts, and Cambridge has already told us the district is half pagan. In prophetic idiom the ones who come from far are the nations (Isaiah 60:4), and this is the only crowd in Mark of whom Jesus says it.
4

His disciples replied, “Where in this desolate place could anyone find enough bread to feed all these people?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai autou hoi mathētai apekrithēsan autō hoti Pothen ep’ erēmias hōde dynēsetai tis artōn chortasai toutous

Word by word16 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
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
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
ἀπεκρίθησανapekrithēsanrepliedG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
apokrinomai: to answer Aorist passive in form, deponent in sense, with the redundant ὅτι following: they answered him that. Cambridge's observation is the honest one: though the Apostles are the writers, they do not conceal from us their own shortcomings.
αὐτῷautōG846
√ 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
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ΠόθενPothenWhereG4159
√ πόθεν — from which (as interrogative) or what (as relative) place, state, source or causeAdverb
pothen: from what source An interrogative of origin. Whatever else the disciples have learned, they have not learned to expect a source outside the visible one. Cambridge, following Farrar, offers the gentler reading as well: to suggest to Him a repetition of the feeding of the Five Thousand would be a presumption which their ever deepening reverence forbade, especially as they recalled how persistently He refused to work a sign at the bidding of others.
ἐπ’ep’inG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
ἐρημίαςerēmiasthis desolate placeG2047
√ ἐρημία — solitude (concretely)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
erēmia: solitude, desolateness A rare abstract noun (the Verifier counts four verses). Ellicott notes it drifts toward the concrete sense of a lonely place but keeps an appreciable shade of difference. It is the same word that describes where the faithful of Hebrews 11:38 wandered, of whom the world was not worthy, and where Paul was in perils in the wilderness (2 Corinthians 11:26). The place of desolation is exactly where Scripture keeps setting tables.
ὧδεhōde. . .G5602
√ ὧδε — in this same spot, iAdverb
δυνήσεταίdynēsetaicouldG1410
√ δύναμαι — to be able or possibleVerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
dynamai: to be able Future middle: will anyone be able. The disciples' question is about capacity, and Pulpit reads their failure as the measure of the miracle: Christ in this necessity, when human resources fail, supplies Divine.
τιςtisanyoneG5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ἄρτωνartōn[find enough] breadG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounGenitive Masculine Plural
artos: bread, a loaf Genitive of the filling material. ἄρτος runs through this unit like a refrain (8:4, 8:5, 8:6) and is the word Jesus will use in 8:14-21 to rebuke the Twelve for remembering the loaves and not the Giver.
χορτάσαιchortasaito feedG5526
√ χορτάζω — to fodder, iVerbAorist Infinitive Active
chortazō: to feed full, to satisfy Aorist infinitive of a comparatively rare verb (the Verifier counts fifteen verses), and Ellicott's identification with the filled of Mark 7:27 is the sharpest sourced observation in the brief. In 7:27 the verb governed a dispute about precedence between children and dogs; here, one chapter later and on pagan ground, it governs four thousand people filled without any dispute at all. The passive of the same verb closes the account in 8:8.
τούτουςtoutousall these [people]G3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Masculine Plural
5

“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Posous artous echete Kai ērōta autous Hepta de Hoi eipan

Word by word10 · parsed
ΠόσουςPosousHow manyG4214
√ πόσος — interrogative pronoun (of amount) how much (large, long or (plural) many)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Masculine Plural
posos: how much, how many Jesus answers a question about source (πόθεν, v. 4) with a question about quantity. He does not argue with the disciples' arithmetic; he asks them to finish it. Pulpit suggests the seven loaves and few fishes were the modest provision for our Lord and his disciples, carried because he so often retired into the desert, which means the meal begins with his own supper given away.
ἄρτουςartousloavesG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounAccusative Masculine Plural
ἔχετεechetedo you haveG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
echō: to have Second person plural present: what do you have. The pronoun is in the verb and is the point. Whatever is multiplied is first surrendered.
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἠρώταērōta[Jesus] askedG2065
√ ἐρωτάω — to interrogateVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
erōtaō: to interrogate Imperfect indicative, Mark's vivid past. The tense holds the pause open while the Twelve take stock, and is one of several places in this unit (compare ἐδίδου in 8:6) where Mark's aspect does narrative work the English cannot easily carry.
αὐτούςautousG846
√ 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
ἙπτάHeptaSevenG2033
√ ἑπτά — sevenAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
hepta: seven The count that JFB and Pulpit both insist on, because everything in the two feedings that can differ does differ: five loaves against seven, five thousand against four thousand, twelve small hand baskets against seven large rope baskets. Pulpit adds that it was, of course, just as easy for our Lord to multiply the smaller quantity as the larger, so the difference of numbers is recorded for the reader's sake, not the miracle's.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΟἱHoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
εἶπανeipanthey repliedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
epō: to say Aorist: they said it once, and that is all they say.
6

And He instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then He took the seven loaves, gave thanks and broke them, and gave them to His disciples to set before the people. And they distributed them to the crowd.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai parangellei tō ochlō anapesein epi tēs gēs kai labōn tous hepta artous eucharistēsas eklasen kai edidou tois autou mathētais hina paratithōsin kai parethēkan tō ochlō

Word by word26 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
παραγγέλλειparangelleiHe instructedG3853
√ παραγγέλλω — to transmit a message, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
parangellō: to transmit a message, to charge Historic present of a verb of command: he gives the order. Mark's Jesus organises a wilderness into a dining hall before there is any food.
τῷtōtheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ὄχλῳochlōcrowdG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounDative Masculine Singular
ἀναπεσεῖνanapeseinto sit downG377
√ ἀναπίπτω — to fall back, iVerbAorist Infinitive Active
anapiptō: to fall back, to recline Aorist infinitive. Pulpit marks what Mark does not say: on the ground (ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς), not the green grass, as before, because it was a different season of the year. That small dry detail is one of the strongest internal arguments that this is a second event, and Cambridge admits honestly that the exact place is not distinctly specified.
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
γῆςgēsgroundG1093
√ γῆ — soilNounGenitive Feminine Singular
καὶkaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
λαβὼνlabōnHe tookG2983
√ λαμβάνω — while G138 (αἱρέομαι) is more violent, to seize or remove))VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
lambanō: to take Aorist participle, first in the fourfold sequence took, gave thanks, broke, gave. The same four verbs in the same order stand at the Last Supper and in Paul's account of the Lord's table, which is why the ancient church heard this bread as more than bread.
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ἑπτὰheptasevenG2033
√ ἑπτά — sevenAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ἄρτουςartousloavesG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounAccusative Masculine Plural
εὐχαριστήσαςeucharistēsasgave thanksG2168
√ εὐχαριστέω — to be grateful, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
eucharisteō: to give thanks Aorist participle. Pulpit holds together the two truths the word forces: Christ indeed, as God, was able of his own will and by his own power to multiply the loaves, but as man he gave thanks. Poole draws the plain duty from both feedings, the religious custom of begging a blessing upon our food when we sit down to it, and receiving the good creatures of God with thanksgiving.
ἔκλασενeklasen[and] broke [them]G2806
√ κλάω — to break (specially, of bread)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
klaō: to break, especially of bread Aorist indicative, a single decisive act. Strong's notes the verb is used specially of bread, and in the New Testament it is almost a technical term for the breaking that begins a meal and, later, a sacrament.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐδίδουedidougave [them]G1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
didōmi: to give Imperfect. The whole miracle hides in this tense: an unbroken stream of giving out of a single broken loaf pile. Mark never says the loaves multiplied; he only says the giving did not stop.
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
ἵναhinaG2443
√ ἵνα — compare G3588 (ὁ))Conjunction
παρατιθῶσινparatithōsinto set before [the people]G3908
√ παρατίθημι — to place alongside, iVerbPresent Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
paratithēmi: to set before, to serve Present subjunctive of purpose: so that they might keep setting it before them. The Twelve who had just asked from where anyone could fill this crowd are made the waiters who fill it.
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
παρέθηκανparethēkanthey distributed [them]G3908
√ παρατίθημι — to place alongside, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
paratithēmi: to set before, to serve Aorist indicative: they did it. Gill will not let the obedience pass without the irony, in which they were obedient to their Lord's commands, though they were so forgetful, unbelieving, and stupid.
τῷtōto theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ὄχλῳochlōcrowdG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounDative Masculine Singular
7

They also had a few small fish, and Jesus blessed them and ordered that these be set before them as well.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

eichon kai oliga ichthydia kai eulogēsas auta eipen tauta paratithenai kai

Word by word11 · parsed
εἶχονeichonThey also hadG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
καὶkai. . .G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὀλίγαoligaa fewG3641
√ ὀλίγος — puny (in extent, degree, number, duration or value)AdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
oligos: puny, few, little Strong's glosses the root as puny in extent, degree, number, duration or value. Where the first feeding numbered its two fish exactly, JFB observes that here both accounts leave them indefinite, a few small fishes, which is itself a mark that the two events are being reported independently.
ἰχθύδιαichthydiasmall fishG2485
√ ἰχθύδιον — a petty fishNounAccusative Neuter Plural
ichthydion: a little fish Diminutive of ἰχθύς, used in the New Testament only in the two accounts of this feeding. The smallness is the theological point: Mark measures the resources with contempt so that the result cannot be credited to them.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εὐλογήσαςeulogēsas[Jesus] blessedG2127
√ εὐλογέω — to speak well of, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
eulogeō: to speak well of, to bless Aorist participle. Mark's two words in two verses, εὐχαριστήσας over the bread and εὐλογήσας over the fish, are the two Jewish table blessings, and Gill collects the versional evidence (Syriac, Persic) that took the fish to be blessed separately, while noting that it is highly reasonable to suppose bread and fish were eaten together.
αὐτὰautathemG846
√ 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 Neuter 3rd Person Plural
εἶπενeipen[and] ordered thatG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
epō: to say Aorist: one word of command, and the fish go out with the bread.
ταῦταtautatheseG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
παρατιθέναιparatithenaibe set before [them]G3908
√ παρατίθημι — to place alongside, iVerbPresent Infinitive Active
paratithēmi: to set before, to serve Present infinitive, the third appearance of the serving verb in two verses (8:6 twice, 8:7 once). Mark's vocabulary makes the disciples into table servants three times over before he tells us anyone ate.
καὶkaias wellG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
8

The people ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai ephagon kai echortasthēsan kai ēran hepta spyridas klasmatōn perisseumata

Word by word10 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἔφαγονephagon[The people] ateG5315
√ φάγω — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
phagō: to eat Aorist indicative, and the answer to the two unanswered subjunctives of 8:1 and 8:2. Everything between the question and this verb is Jesus.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐχορτάσθησανechortasthēsanwere satisfiedG5526
√ χορτάζω — to fodder, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
chortazō: to fill full, to satisfy Aorist passive of the rare verb (fifteen verses by the Verifier's count) that Ellicott identified at 8:4 with the filled of Mark 7:27. In 7:27 it was let the children first be filled; here a crowd from a half pagan district is filled to the full, and nobody is left arguing about crumbs under a table. Gill keeps the wonder where it belongs: that they should all be satisfied to the full, is amazing.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἦρανēran[the disciples] picked upG142
√ αἴρω — to lift upVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἑπτὰheptasevenG2033
√ ἑπτά — sevenAdjectiveAccusative Feminine Plural
σπυρίδαςspyridasbasketfulsG4711
√ σπυρίς — a hamper or lunch-receptacleNounAccusative Feminine Plural
spyris: a hamper, a large basket Accusative plural. JFB treats the word as the strongest of all the incidental proofs that this is not the feeding of the five thousand retold, precisely because it is incidental: all four evangelists use κόφινος for the first feeding and both accounts of the second use σπυρίς. Pulpit passes on the opinion of Cornelius a Lapide that the σπυρίς was double the size of the κόφινος, a large basket carried by two.
κλασμάτωνklasmatōnof broken piecesG2801
√ κλάσμα — a piece (bit)NounGenitive Neuter Plural
klasma: a broken piece Genitive plural, from the same root as ἔκλασεν in 8:6. What is gathered is literally the breaking: the fragments are not waste but the shape the gift took.
περισσεύματαperisseumatathat were left overG4051
√ περίσσευμα — a surplus, or superabundanceNounAccusative Neuter Plural
perisseuma: surplus, superabundance A rare noun (four verses). The leftovers exceed the original seven loaves, as Pulpit observes, since each basket would contain much more than one loaf. Paul takes this same word and makes it an ethic: your surplus for their lack (2 Corinthians 8:14). Seven loaves went in; seven hampers of surplus came out, and Mark counts both.
9

And about four thousand men were present. And when Jesus had dismissed the crowd,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de hōs tetrakischilioi ēsan kai apelysen autous

Word by word7 · parsed
δὲdeAndG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὡςhōsaboutG5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
τετρακισχίλιοιtetrakischilioifour thousand [men]G5070
√ τετρακισχίλιοι — four times a thousandAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
tetrakischilioi: four thousand The number by which this miracle is known, and Jesus himself will name it again in 8:20. JFB's exasperation is worth recording: had not our Lord distinctly referred, in this very chapter and in two successive sentences, to the feeding of the five thousand and of the four thousand as two distinct miracles, many critics would have insisted they were one. Mark lets the Lord be his own textual critic.
ἦσανēsanwere [ present ]G1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
eimi: to be Imperfect: they were, as a standing fact while they ate. A quiet narrator's aside after the action is over.
καὶkaiAnd whenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀπέλυσενapelysen[Jesus] had dismissedG630
√ ἀπολύω — to free fully, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
apolyō: to release, to dismiss Aorist indicative. The verb closes the loop opened in 8:3 and hands the crowd back to the roads they came from, including the far roads of v. 3. They leave with nothing in their hands and nothing lacking, which is the only way anyone has ever left a table the Lord spread.
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
10

He immediately got into the boat with His disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai euthys embas eis to ploion meta autou tōn mathētōn ēlthen eis ta merē Dalmanoutha

Word by word15 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εὐθὺςeuthysHe immediatelyG2112
√ εὐθέως — directly, iAdverb
eutheōs: directly, immediately Mark's most characteristic adverb, and its placement here caps the episode without a pause. The four thousand are fed, dismissed, and the boat is already moving. The next thing that happens in Mark is a demand for a sign from heaven (8:11), asked of the man who has just made bread in a desert.
ἐμβὰςembasgotG1684
√ ἐμβαίνω — to walk on, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
embainō: to step in, to embark Aorist participle. The lake crossing is Mark's hinge between Gentile and Jewish ground: he leaves the far shore where a pagan crowd was filled and lands where the Pharisees are waiting.
εἰςeisintoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
πλοῖονploionboatG4143
√ πλοῖον — a sailer, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
μετὰmetawithG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
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
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
μαθητῶνmathētōndisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounGenitive Masculine Plural
mathētēs: a learner, a disciple Genitive plural with μετά. They go with him carrying seven hampers of surplus, and in 8:14-21 he will have to ask them why they are worried about bread.
ἦλθενēlthen[and] wentG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὰtatheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
μέρηmerēdistrictG3313
√ μέρος — a division or share (literally or figuratively, in a wide application)NounAccusative Neuter Plural
meros: a division, a share, a district Accusative plural. A deliberately loose geographical expression, which is why Benson can reconcile Mark with Matthew by supposing that Dalmanutha was a city and territory within the district of Magdala.
ΔαλμανουθάDalmanouthaof DalmanuthaG1148
√ Δαλμανουθά — Dalmanutha, a place in PalestineNounGenitive Feminine Singular
Dalmanoutha: Dalmanutha, a place in Palestine A hapax in the whole of ancient literature. JFB holds only that Magdala and Dalmanutha were probably not far apart on the western shore, and that Dalmanutha cannot now be identified with certainty; Cambridge records Tristram's guess at the Ain el Barideh near el Mejdel. Poole's solution is the oldest and simplest, that Matthew's Magdala and Mark's Dalmanutha were two contiguous tracts of land. We record the uncertainty rather than choose.

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 crowd that would not go home — 8:1-3

Mark opens with πάλιν, again, and Pulpit shows that even the manuscripts felt the force of it: the better authorities read πάλιν πόλλου, and the otherwise unattested παμπόλλου may have been substituted, Pulpit suggests, because an old ecclesiastical Lection began here and a copyist wanted the reading to stand free of its context. Mark will not let it stand free. Cambridge supplies the ground: this is the half-pagan district of Decapolis, where the effect of the miraculous cures was very great, and where four thousand men have now stayed three days. Jesus' first word is Σπλαγχνίζομαι, a verb of the inward organs; Benson keeps the physiology (my bowels yearn, or, are moved) and JFB records that in the Gospels this emotion always preceded some remarkable interposition for relief. The crowd's hunger is not carelessness but attachment: προσμένουσίν, they are staying on, present tense, and Gill counts out the two nights and three days with no bed to lie upon and no provisions to be bought. Pulpit notes that they were esteeming his words to be more than their necessary food, and that our Lord on his part had been denying himself rest, refreshment, and sleep. Then two words that decide the meaning of the whole unit: νήστεις, fasting, and ἥκασιν, a perfect which Ellicott and Pulpit both insist keeps the clause inside Jesus' own speech, so that it is the Lord himself who observes that some of them are come from afar.

ii. From where, in a desolateness — 8:4-5

The disciples ask πόθεν, from what source. Cambridge, following Trench, hears Israel in the question and sends the reader to Exodus 17:1-7 and Exodus 16:13 with Numbers 11:21 and 11:23: all former deliverances are in danger of being forgotten, and at each recurring necessity it seems as though the wonders of God's grace are exhausted and had come to an end. Cambridge also gives the kinder reading from Farrar, that to suggest a repetition of the feeding of the five thousand would have been a presumption their deepening reverence forbade, and JFB agrees that they meant no more than that they had not the means, modestly leaving the Lord to decide. Two words in their question are sharper than the English shows. Ellicott establishes that ἐρημίας is abstract, the idea of loneliness and only through that of a lonely place, and points to its other occurrences at 2 Corinthians 11:26 and Hebrews 11:38. And Ellicott makes the observation that ties this feeding to the chapter before it: χορτάσαι is the same verb as the filled of Mark 7:27, where the children had to be filled before the dogs. Jesus answers the question of source with a question of amount, πόσους, the same interrogative he will use in 8:19-20 to make the Twelve recite these numbers back. JFB and Pulpit both hold that the exact count of seven is recorded so that the distinctness of the two miracles should appear.

iii. Took, gave thanks, broke, kept giving — 8:6-8

Four verbs, in an order the church has never been able to hear innocently: λαβών, εὐχαριστήσας, ἔκλασεν, ἐδίδου. Ellicott notes that ἀναπεσεῖν means reclining, not our sitting, so the crowd is seated as at a banquet, and Pulpit notices what Mark does not say, that it is on the ground, not the green grass, as before, because it was a different season of the year. Over the thanksgiving Pulpit holds the two natures together (Christ indeed, as God, was able of his own will to multiply the loaves, but as man he gave thanks) and quotes Westcott against reading it as petition: the thanksgiving was not for any uncertain or unexpected gift, it was rather a proclamation of his fellowship with God. Then the grammar: Pulpit tells the reader to observe the aorist and the imperfect, for the giving was a continual act, till all were filled. Mark never says the loaves multiplied. He says the giving did not stop. Gill notes the irony of the servers, obedient to their Lord's commands, though they were so forgetful, unbelieving, and stupid. At the end, ἐχορτάσθησαν is passive, the rare verb of 8:4 turned on its head, and the surplus is counted in σπυρίδας, which Cambridge, JFB and Pulpit all identify as the large rope basket of Acts 9:25, big enough to lower a man from a wall. Gill: that they should all be satisfied to the full, is amazing.

iv. Four thousand released, and a boat to a town no one can find — 8:9-10

Mark rounds the people (ὡς, about) and counts the bread exactly. The verb of dismissal, ἀπέλυσεν, is the verb Jesus refused in 8:3: he would not release them fasting, and now he releases them full. Then εὐθύς, and the boat, and Dalmanutha. Cambridge's last observation on the feeding is the one most worth keeping: the more excitable inhabitants of the coast-villages of the North would have taken and made Him a king (John 6:15); the men of Decapolis and the Eastern shores permit Him to leave them without any demonstration. And here the record simply runs out. Ellicott notes that Dalmanutha is mentioned by no other writer and treats Mark's use of it as an instance of his independence; Cambridge says nothing is known of it, and passes on Tristram's guess at the Ain el Barideh; JFB says it cannot now be identified with certainty; Benson and Poole both reconcile Mark with Matthew's Magdala by supposing contiguous or overlapping territory. Five commentators, five degrees of caution, and no location. The unit ends with a fed crowd, a full boat, and an unknown shore.

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

⚙ Our own fallible reading, offered to be tested: the point of the second feeding is that it is second. Mark has told this kind of story once already, and the commentators in this brief spend most of their effort proving that he is not telling it twice by accident (JFB lists the localities, the days, the loaves, the fishes, the grass, the baskets; Pulpit adds the season; Cambridge tabulates five differences). But the differences are not merely forensic. Between the first table and this one stands Mark 7, where a Greek woman was told that the children must first be filled, and Ellicott shows that her word is this word: χορτάζω, at 7:27 and again at 8:4 and 8:8. In chapter 7 the verb governed a dispute about precedence. In chapter 8, east of the lake, in a district Cambridge calls half pagan, among people of whom Jesus himself says that some are come from afar, that verb becomes an aorist passive with four thousand subjects: they were filled full, and there is no argument about crumbs left anywhere in the story. Israel's wilderness question, can God spread a table in the desert, is answered a second time, and the second answer is spread on Gentile ground with seven hampers of surplus left lying on it. What Jesus asks the Twelve a few verses later (8:19-21, do you not yet understand) is our question too, and we do not claim to have answered it. But we take it that the leftover surplus is the sermon: περίσσευμα is the word Paul will use for the abundance that supplies somebody else's lack (2 Corinthians 8:14), and there was more bread on the ground after the nations ate than there had been in the disciples' hands before. The line that follows is our own composition, not Scripture, and is offered as commentary to be weighed:

The bread was never rationed to Israel alone; it was only broken there first.

⚙

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.

Jesus counts the baskets himself: the Lord as his own textual critic verbal / quotation: confirmed

A few verses after this feeding, Jesus makes the Twelve recite both miracles back to him, using the same interrogative Mark uses at 8:5: πόσους, how many. The Verifier confirms the shared vocabulary between our unit and Mark 8:19-20 (G4214 πόσος and G2033 ἑπτά), and JFB builds his whole case on it: had not our Lord distinctly referred, in this very chapter and in two successive sentences, to the feeding of the five thousand and of the four thousand as two distinct miracles, many critics would have insisted that they were but two different representations of one and the same miracle. Matthew 16:10 records the same recitation of the seven loaves and the four thousand. This is not a motif; it is a citation of this event by its own participants, inside the same chapter.

Mark 8:19 · Mark 8:20 · Matthew 16:10

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4214 πόσος (in 27 vv) and G2033 ἑπτά (in 63 vv) with Mark 8:20, and G740 ἄρτος (in 89 vv) with Mark 8:19; all NT Greek, and Mark 8:19-20 is an explicit internal recollection of this feeding by the speaker of 8:5, not merely a shared theme

The Matthean parallel: the same table, independently counted verbal / quotation: confirmed

Matthew 15:32-38 reports this feeding with the same distinctive vocabulary the Verifier isolates: G4341 προσκαλέομαι (the middle verb of Mark 8:1, in only 29 verses), G5526 χορτάζω (in only 15 verses), with ἄρτος, πόσος and ἑπτά. Ellicott, Barnes and Gill all simply refer the reader to the notes on Matthew 15:32-38 rather than repeat themselves. The differences that remain are as instructive as the agreements: Cambridge and Barnes both note that Matthew 15:38 adds besides women and children, which Mark does not, and Matthew names the number of the fish no more precisely than Mark does.

Matthew 15:32 · Matthew 15:33 · Matthew 15:34 · Matthew 15:36 · Matthew 15:37

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes across five verses, including the uncommon G4341 προσκαλέομαι (in 29 vv) and G5526 χορτάζω (in 15 vv), plus G740 ἄρτος (in 89 vv), G4214 πόσος (in 27 vv), G2033 ἑπτά (in 63 vv), G2250 ἡμέρα (in 368 vv), G5315 φάγω (in 86 vv); NT to NT, synoptic parallel of the same event

Let the children first be filled: the verb that crosses from Mark 7 into Mark 8 verbal / quotation: confirmed

Ellicott, commenting on χορτάσαι at Mark 8:4, states the link plainly: the verb is the same as the filled of Mark 7:27. In 7:27 Jesus used it to defend an order of precedence to a Greek woman, the children must first be filled. In 8:4 the disciples use it to declare the thing impossible, and in 8:8 Mark uses its aorist passive of four thousand people in Gentile territory: ἐχορτάσθησαν, they were filled full. The Verifier counts the verb in only fifteen verses, and its other appearances in the feeding narratives (Matthew 14:20, 15:37, Luke 9:17) are all about the same satisfaction. The order of 7:27 is not cancelled in chapter 8; it is completed.

Mark 7:27 · Matthew 14:20 · Luke 9:17 · Matthew 15:37

basis: Ellicott records the verbal identity between Mark 8:4 and Mark 7:27; G5526 χορτάζω is uncommon (Verifier: in 15 vv), and the Verifier independently confirms the same lexeme shared with Matthew 14:20, Matthew 15:37 and Luke 9:17. All Greek to Greek; no quotation claim beyond the shared rare verb

Surplus: the rare word that becomes an apostolic ethic verbal / quotation: confirmed

περισσεύματα at Mark 8:8 is not a clause meaning that were left over but a noun, and the Verifier finds it in only four verses of the New Testament. Two of them are the saying that out of the surplus of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34, Luke 6:45). The fourth is Paul's collection argument, where one church's surplus meets another's lack so that there may be equality (2 Corinthians 8:14). Pulpit notes that far more food remained after all were fed than the original supply, for each basket would contain much more than one loaf, and Benson records that the gathering was ordered so as to teach a prudent frugality in the midst of plenty. The rare noun is the hinge: what Jesus leaves on the ground after feeding strangers is the very thing Paul asks the churches to hand over.

2 Corinthians 8:14 · Luke 6:45 · Matthew 12:34

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4051 περίσσευμα, rare at only 4 verses in the New Testament (2 Corinthians 8:14 also shares G1565 ἐκεῖνος, in 237 vv); NT to NT, a genuine verbal link, with no claim that Paul is quoting Mark

A desolateness: where Scripture keeps setting tables verbal / quotation: confirmed

Ellicott insists that the disciples' ἐρημίας is abstract, loneliness rather than a lonely place, and points to its other two New Testament occurrences, 2 Corinthians 11:26 (perils in the wilderness) and Hebrews 11:38 (they wandered in deserts, of whom the world was not worthy). The Verifier confirms the lexeme and its rarity, four verses in all, and notes that Hebrews 11:38 also shares γῆ, the ground on which Mark's crowd is told to recline. The link is lexical and thematic at once: the word for the place where no provision is possible is, in all four of its occurrences, the place where God's people are nevertheless kept.

Hebrews 11:38 · 2 Corinthians 11:26

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2047 ἐρημία, rare at only 4 verses (Hebrews 11:38 additionally shares G1093 γῆ, in 223 vv); the identification is also made explicitly by Ellicott. NT to NT; no quotation is claimed, only the shared rare noun

Can God spread a table in the wilderness? The question answered twice structural / thematic: confirmed

The disciples' πόθεν, from what source, is Israel's question. Cambridge makes the connection with the manna narratives explicitly, citing Exodus 17:1-7 and Exodus 16:13 with Numbers 11:21 and 11:23, and quoting Trench: all former deliverances are in danger of being forgotten. Psalm 78 puts the taunt in words, whether God can furnish a table in the wilderness, and then answers it with the corn of heaven and the bread of angels which men did eat. ⚙ Mark's account matches the pattern at four points (a desolate place, a people three days out with nothing, bread given without a source, and more gathered than was given) without quoting a syllable of it. Note the honest limit: Mark is Greek and Psalm 78 and Exodus 16 are Hebrew, so no shared Strong's lexeme can exist between them and the Verifier computes none. The link is a shared pattern, asserted by Cambridge for the Exodus texts and by us for the Psalm, not a quotation.

Psalm 78:19 · Psalm 78:24 · Exodus 16:3 · Numbers 11:21

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so shared Strong's numbers are impossible by definition and none are claimed; the recorded basis is the shared wilderness-provision pattern, cited for the Exodus and Numbers texts by Cambridge (quoting Trench) at Mark 8:4, and extended by us to Psalm 78:19-25. No quotation claim

Some of them are come from afar: the feast for all peoples typological

Jesus' own reason for feeding this crowd, in the perfect tense Ellicott and Pulpit both defend, is that some of them have come from a distance (ἀπὸ μακρόθεν). Cambridge has already located the scene in the half-pagan district of Decapolis, and closes his note on the miracle by contrasting these easterners with the northern crowd that wanted to make him king. ⚙ Read against the prophets, the far-comers are the nations: Isaiah sees sons brought from far (60:4), a servant given as a light to the Gentiles to the end of the earth (49:6), and on the mountain a feast of fat things which the LORD of hosts makes for all peoples, where death itself is swallowed up (25:6-8). Joshua 9:6 supplies the older pattern in miniature, foreigners arriving with dry and crumbling provisions (9:5, 9:12) to say that they have come from a far country. We mark this as a figural reading, widely held in the tradition but not asserted by any voice in this brief beyond Cambridge's geography, and not verbal: Mark is Greek, Isaiah and Joshua are Hebrew, and no shared lexeme exists.

Isaiah 25:6 · Isaiah 49:6 · Isaiah 60:4 · Joshua 9:6

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexeme is possible and none is claimed. The sourced footing is Cambridge on the half-pagan district of Decapolis and Jesus' own ἀπὸ μακρόθεν at Mark 8:3; the figural reading of the far-comers as the nations and of the meal as the Isaianic feast is ours, ancient in the tradition but argued here rather than quoted

Elisha's twenty loaves: a prophet who fed a hundred with some left over typological

2 Kings 4:42-44 is the nearest Old Testament analogue to the mechanics of this scene: a small named quantity of bread, a servant's objection (what, should I set this before a hundred men), a command to give it to the people, and the closing note that they ate and left some over. ⚙ Mark's account runs the same three beats, and the leftover is the last word in both. This is a figural comparison we make, not a quotation and not a verbal link: Mark is Greek, 2 Kings is Hebrew, no shared Strong's lexeme can exist, the Verifier computes none, and no commentator in this brief draws the parallel. The comparison is old in Christian reading, but here it is offered as an argument to be tested.

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

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): shared Strong's numbers are impossible and none are claimed; the Verifier returned no candidate here. Basis is a three-beat structural correspondence (named small supply, servant's objection, all eat and food is left over) asserted by us alone, and tiered typological accordingly

The compassion that feeds: a name of God and a habit of God structural / thematic: confirmed

Mark puts Σπλαγχνίζομαι first in Jesus' sentence, and JFB gathers the Gospel parallels where the same emotion precedes relief (Matthew 14:14, 20:34, Mark 1:41, Luke 7:13, Matthew 9:36), reaching back to Judges 2:18 and 10:16 where the LORD is grieved for Israel's groaning. ⚙ Behind that lies the divine self-naming of Exodus 34:6, merciful and gracious, and the psalm that makes feeding the standing proof of it: the eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their food in due season, thou openest thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing (Psalm 145:15-16). The link we claim is one of pattern and character, not of words: JFB supplies the Judges references himself, and the Exodus and Psalm connection is ours.

Exodus 34:6 · Psalm 145:15 · Judges 2:18

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's lexeme is possible or claimed. JFB's own note at Mark 8:2 supplies the Judges 2:18 and 10:16 comparison; the Exodus 34:6 and Psalm 145:15-16 connection is a shared character-and-pattern link asserted by us, with no quotation claimed

Took, gave thanks, broke, gave: the shape of the Lord's table flagged: verify source

The four verbs of Mark 8:6 (λαβών, εὐχαριστήσας, ἔκλασεν, ἐδίδου) stand in the same order, with the same thanksgiving verb, in Luke's account of the Supper and in Paul's, where the Lord took bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it. ⚙ We note the correspondence as a pattern of language rather than a citation: the Verifier did not compute Luke 22:19 or 1 Corinthians 11:24 as candidates for this unit, so we do not claim its computed lexeme basis, and the four verbs are common enough that their weight lies in the sequence, not in their rarity. Poole, reading both feedings together, draws the liturgical lesson at its plainest: the religious custom of begging a blessing upon our food when we sit down to it, and receiving the good creatures of God with thanksgiving.

Luke 22:19 · 1 Corinthians 11:24

basis: NT to NT, but the Verifier returned no computed candidate for these verses, so no shared-lexeme basis is on record here; the link rests on the sequence of four common verbs (G2983, G2168, G2806, G1325) as we observe it, plus Poole's table-blessing comment. Flagged rather than tiered verbal so that a reader checks the Greek of Luke 22:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:24 directly

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The true bread which cometh down from heaven ancient/widely-held

Benson draws the line himself, and in his own words: both feedings were intended to demonstrate that Christ was the true bread which cometh down from heaven, for he who was almighty to create bread without means to support natural life, could not want power to create bread without means to support spiritual life. That is the apostolic reading of a wilderness table (John 6:32-35, 6:51), and Benson ends where John's crowd should have ended, praying evermore give us this bread. ⚙ We add only what the grammar contributes: Mark never reports a multiplication. He reports an aorist breaking and an imperfect giving (Pulpit: the giving was a continual act, till all were filled), which is precisely how the bread of life is given, once broken and always distributed.

John 6:32 · John 6:35 · John 6:51

The table spread for those who are come from afar ancient/widely-held

Cambridge sets the scene in the half-pagan district of Decapolis and notes that, unlike the northern crowd who would have made him king (John 6:15), the men of Decapolis and the Eastern shores permit Him to leave them without any demonstration. Jesus' stated reason for feeding them is that some of them are come from afar. ⚙ Our reading: this is the second panel of an argument that began with a Greek woman in Mark 7. There Jesus said the children must first be filled, using the verb Ellicott identifies at 8:4; here the same verb is passive and the subjects are four thousand people on Gentile ground. Paul will describe the Gentiles as those who once were far off and have been brought near by the blood of Christ, and will call the abolition of that distance the making of one new man. The Gentile direction of this feeding is widely held in the tradition and rests here on Cambridge's geography and Ellicott's verb; the specific link to Ephesians is ours, and we do not claim it as a verbal one, since Mark's ἀπὸ μακρόθεν and Paul's μακράν are not the same word.

Mark 7:27 · Ephesians 2:13 · Isaiah 25:6

He gave thanks in a desert, and he gave thanks on the night he was betrayed ancient/widely-held

Pulpit, quoting Westcott, will not let the thanksgiving of 8:6 be a petition: it was rather a proclamation of his fellowship with God, and so the true nature of prayer in the case of our blessed Lord was the conscious realization of the Divine will, and not a petition for that which was contingent. ⚙ The same four acts in the same order, with the same verb εὐχαριστέω, will be performed over bread on the last night, and the surplus of this meal will be carried away in seven hampers by men who will shortly be told they still do not understand about loaves (8:19-21). The redemptive-historical shape is therefore not a hidden allegory but a repeated gesture: he takes what is his own, gives thanks, is broken, and keeps giving until everyone is filled. The eucharistic hearing of the feedings is ancient and widespread; the particular weight we place on the imperfect ἐδίδου is Pulpit's observation applied by us.

Luke 22:19 · 1 Corinthians 11:23 · Mark 8:19

The compassion that will not dismiss the fasting novel

⚙ The verb ἀπολύω frames the story. In 8:3 Jesus refuses to release the crowd fasting, because they would be unstrung on the road (Geneva: they will fall apart, or be dissolved); in 8:9 he releases them, fed. Between the refusal and the release stands nothing but his own compassion and his own bread. Gill sees the dismissal as a procession of mended people, others that came lame, he dismissed leaping. This is a small parable of the whole ministry, and we offer it as such rather than as a doctrine anyone in this brief teaches: the Lord will not send his people home in a condition they cannot survive, and what he supplies for the road he supplies out of himself. The connection to the Shepherd who makes his flock lie down and lack nothing is a figural reading of ours.

Psalm 23:1 · Mark 6:34

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)
  • 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: BSB (CC0) with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbering, as supplied in the brief. Two textual matters are on record here and neither is ours. First, at 8:1 Pulpit reports the variant παμπόλλου (a form found nowhere else in the New Testament) against πάλιν πόλλου, prefers the latter with the best authorities, and offers the conjecture that an old ecclesiastical Lection beginning at this chapter prompted the change; the BSB's once again follows πάλιν πόλλου. Second, at 8:3 Pulpit prefers καὶ τινές to τινὲς γάρ, which (with the perfect ἥκασιν that Ellicott also stresses) keeps the clause about those come from afar inside Jesus' speech rather than making it the evangelist's aside. We have followed both readings and said so in the notes.

Sources: the voices quoted are Ellicott, Benson, Henry, Barnes, JFB, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge, Pulpit and Poole, all public domain, all quoted verbatim by anchor. Several entries in the brief are not verse-specific and we have marked that where it matters: Henry's note is a single block on 8:1-10, Barnes' I have compassions is repeated by the source across several verses, Poole's entries for most verses are cross-references to his note on 8:1, and Geneva's entries are mostly the bare verse text, the exception being the substantive gloss on faint at 8:3 which we quote. Gill's expansion of the dismissal at 8:9 draws on the healings in the surrounding narrative, not on 8:9 itself, and we say so in the editorial note.

What is uncertain. (1) Dalmanutha is unknown: Ellicott says no other writer mentions it, Cambridge says nothing is known of it and passes on Tristram's guess, JFB says it cannot now be identified with certainty, and Benson and Poole reconcile it with Matthew's Magdala by conjecture. We record the disagreement and choose nothing. (2) The exact site of the feeding is not stated; Cambridge admits only that it was on the eastern side of the Lake, in a desert spot, possibly about the middle or southern end. (3) Whether the fish were blessed separately from the bread is a real difference between Mark and Matthew as Gill reads them, and Gill leaves it open; so do we. (4) Every Old Testament connection in this unit is structural or typological, never verbal, because Mark is Greek and the Hebrew Scriptures share no Strong's lexeme with it; where a commentator supplies the connection (Cambridge on Exodus and Numbers, JFB on Judges) we have named him, and where the connection is our own (Psalm 78, Isaiah 25, 49 and 60, Joshua 9, 2 Kings 4, Exodus 34, Psalm 145) we have said so inside the basis. (5) The eucharistic verb-sequence thread is flagged rather than tiered verbal because the Verifier computed no candidate for Luke 22:19 or 1 Corinthians 11:24 in this unit, so its basis is our own observation of the sequence and should be checked. No formal Old Testament quotation occurs anywhere in Mark 8:1-10.

✦ = 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)