Mark 6:37

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

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Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses His disciples after commanding the crowd to disperse for provisions. He directs them to supply the meal themselves while they inventory their available supplies.

The words — The imperative δότε (dote) translates literally as "do give," stressing direct obligation. The emphatic pronoun ὑμεῖς (humeis) means "you yourselves," isolating the disciples as the immediate agents.

The thread — The command repeats in Matthew 14:16 with identical phrasing and context. It intersects with the logistical despair of Numbers 11:13 and the provision pattern of 2 Kings 4:42.

Why it lands — The text states that the disciples must act with what they possess before any multiplication occurs. It requires readers to submit to practical obedience as the necessary condition for divine intervention.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?

Cross-references

2 Kings 4:42 Now a man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with a sack of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first ripe grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha.
Numbers 11:13 Where can I get meat for all these people? For they keep crying out to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’
Matthew 14:16 “They do not need to go away,” Jesus replied. “You give them something to eat.”
Matthew 15:32 Then Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “I have compassion for this crowd, because they have already been with Me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may faint along the way.”
Mark 8:2 “I have compassion for this crowd, because they have already been with Me three days and have nothing to eat.
Luke 9:13 But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered, “unless we go and buy food for all these people.”
Numbers 11:21 But Moses replied, “Here I am among 600,000 men on foot, yet You say, ‘I will give them meat, and they will eat for a month.’
2 Kings 7:2 But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” replied Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it.”
John 6:4 Now the Jewish Feast of the Passover was near.