30. The apostles that Jesus had sent out to preach returned. They gathered around him and told him about all the things they had done and taught.
31. Crowds of people were coming and going. Jesus and his followers did not even have time to eat. He said to them, “Come with me. We will go to a quiet place to be alone. There we will get some rest.”
32. So they went in a boat alone to a place where there were no people.
33. But many people saw them leave and recognized them. So people from all the towns ran to the place where Jesus was going. They got there before Jesus arrived.
34. When he landed, he saw a great crowd waiting. Jesus felt sorry for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he taught them many things.
35. It was now late in the day. Jesus’ followers came to him and said, “No one lives in this place. And it is already very late.
36. Send the people away. They need to go to the farms and towns around here to buy some food to eat.”
37. But Jesus answered, “You give them food to eat.”They said to him, “We can’t buy enough bread to feed all these people! We would all have to work a month to earn enough money to buy that much bread!”
38. Jesus asked them, “How many loaves of bread do you have now? Go and see.”When they found out, they came to him and said, “We have five loaves and two fish.”
39. Then Jesus said to the followers, “Tell all the people to sit in groups on the green grass.”
40. So all the people sat in groups. They sat in groups of 50 or groups of 100.