“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many?”
Parallel Translations
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“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many?”
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There ys a lad here which hath fyve barly loves and two fisshes: but what is that amonge so many?
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There is a little boy heere, which hath fiue barlie loaues, and two fishes: but what are they among so many?
Cross-references (20)
Passages linked to John 6:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Kings 4:42-44 A man from Baal Shalishah came, and brought the man of God some bread of the first fruits: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. He said, “Give to the people, that they may eat.” His servant said, “What, should I set this before a hundred men?” But he said, “Give the people, that they may eat; for Yahweh says, ‘They will eat, and will have some left over.’ ” So he set it before them, and they ate, and had some left over, according to Yahweh’s word.
- Matthew 14:17 They told him, “We only have here five loaves and two fish.”
- Mark 6:38 He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go see.” When they knew, they said, “Five, and two fish.”
- Luke 9:13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we should go and buy food for all these people.”
- Psalms 78:19 Yes, they spoke against God. They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
- Matthew 16:9 Don’t you yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up?
- Mark 8:19 When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Twelve.”
- Deuteronomy 8:8 a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey;
- Psalms 81:16 But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat. I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock.”
- Psalms 147:14 He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the finest of the wheat.
- 2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.
- Deuteronomy 32:14 butter from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat. From the blood of the grape, you drank wine.
- 1 Kings 4:28 They also brought Barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where the officers were, each man according to his duty.
- 2 Kings 7:1 Elisha said, “Hear Yahweh’s word. Yahweh says, ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’ ”
- Psalms 78:41 They turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
- Ezekiel 27:17 “ ‘ “Judah and the land of Israel were your traders. They traded wheat of Minnith, confections, honey, oil, and balm for your merchandise.
- John 6:7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may receive a little.”
- John 11:21 Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.
- John 11:32 Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
- Revelation 6:6 I heard a voice in the middle of the four living creatures saying, “A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius! Don’t damage the oil and the wine!”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (6 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 9 There is a lad here, which hath five…
9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
Ver. 9. Five barley loaves and two small fishes] Was not Tyrabosco hardly driven, when from these five loaves and two fishes, he concluded seven sacraments? So in the second Council of Nice under Irene, John (one of the envoys of the Eastern churches) proved the making of images lawful, because God had said, "Let us make man after our own image." A sound argument to overthrow one of God’s commandments! and yet it prevailed.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain There is a lad here,.... Who either belonged to…
There is a lad here,.... Who either belonged to Christ and his disciples, and was employed to carry their provisions for them; which, if so, shows how meanly Christ and his disciples lived; or he belonged to some in the multitude; or rather he came here to sell what he had got:
which hath five barley loaves. The land of Canaan was a land of barley, as well as wheat, Deu 8:8; this sort of grain grew there in plenty, and was in much use; the Jews had a barley harvest, Rut 1:22, which was at the time of the passover; for on the second day after the passover, the sheaf of the first fruits was waved before the Lord, which was of barley; hence the Targumist on the place just cited, paraphrases it thus;
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"they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the passover, and on the day the children of Israel began to reap the sheaf of the wave offering, which was of barley.''
And it was now about the time of the passover, as appears from Joh 6:4, and had it been quite the time, and the barley sheaf had been waved, it might have been thought that these loaves were made of the new barley; but though barley was in use for bread among the Jews, as is evident, from the mention that is made of barley loaves and cakes, Kg2 4:42; yet it was bread of the coarsest sort, and what the meaner sort of people ate; see Eze 4:12. Yea, barley was used for food for horses and dromedaries, Kg1 4:28; and since therefore these loaves were, if not designed for the use of Christ and his twelve apostles, yet for some of his followers, and which they all ate of; it is an instance of the meanness and poverty of them: but however, they had better bread than this, even the bread of life, which is afterwards largely treated of in this chapter, which some of them at least ate of; and as our countryman Mr. Dod used to say,
"brown bread and the Gospel are good fare:''
and it may be further observed, that the number of these loaves were but few; there were but "five" of them, for "five thousand" persons; and these do not seem to be very large ones, since one lad was able to carry them; and indeed, these loaves were no other than cakes, in which form they used to be made:
and two small fishes; there were but "two", and these "small"; it is amazing, that five thousand persons should everyone have something of them, and enough: these fishes seem to be what the Jews (c) call and which the gloss interprets "small fishes": and by the word which is used of them, they seem to be salted, or pickled fishes, and such it is very probable these were; Nonnus calls them, , "fishes which were broiled", or perhaps dried in the sun; see Luk 24:42.
But what are they among so many? everyone cannot possibly have a taste, much less any refreshment, still less a meal.
(c) T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 60. 2. & Sanhedrin, fol. 49. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. There is a lad here] παιδαριον, a…
Verse 9. There is a lad here] παιδαριον, a little boy, or servant, probably one who carried the apostles' provisions, or who came on purpose to sell his bread and fish.
Five barley loaves] Barley scarcely bore one-third of the value of wheat in the east: see Re 6:6. That it was a very mean fare appears from Eze 13:19, where the false prophetesses are said to pollute the name of God for handfuls of barley, i.e. for the meanest reward. And Plutarch, in Apoph. p. 174, speaking concerning the flight of Artaxerxes Mnemon, says he was reduced to such distress as to be obliged to eat barley bread. See Kypke. From this and other circumstances we may plainly perceive that the self-denying doctrine preached by Christ and his apostles was fully exemplified in their own manner of living.
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Two small fishes] δυο οψαρια. The word of οψαριον signifies whatever is eaten with bread, to perfect the meal, or to make it easy of deglutition, or to help the digestion. There is no word in the English language for it, which is a great defect. The inhabitants of Scotland, and of the north and north-west of Ireland, use the word kytshen, by which they express what ever is eaten with bread or potatoes, as flesh, fish, butter, milk, eggs, c., no satisfactory etymology of which word I am able to offer. In the parallel places in the other three evangelists, instead of οψαριαι, χθυας is used so that the word evidently means fish in the text of St. John: See Clarke on Joh 21:5.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. a lad] And therefore able to carry very…
9. a lad] And therefore able to carry very little. The word is a diminutive in the Greek, a little lad; it might also mean ‘servant,’ but this is less likely.
barley loaves] The ordinary coarse food of the lower orders; Jdg_7:13. S. John alone mentions their being of barley, and that they belonged to the lad, who was probably selling them. With homely food from so scanty a store Christ will feed them all. These minute details are the touches of an eyewitness.
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two small fishes] Better, two fishes, although the Greek (opsaria) is a diminutive. The word occurs in this Gospel only (Joh_6:11, Joh_21:9-10; Joh_21:13), and literally means a little relish, i.e. anything eaten with bread or other food: and as salt fish was most commonly used for this purpose the word came gradually to mean ‘fish’ in particular. Philip had enlarged on the greatness of the difficulty; Andrew insists rather on the smallness of the resources for meeting it.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) Again the account of the eye-witness is the…
(9) Again the account of the eye-witness is the more full and life-like. All tell of the five loaves and two fishes. John knows that they are barley loaves—the ordinary black bread of the Galilean peasant; and that the loaves and fishes are not the property of the disciples, but of a lad or slave who has followed the crowd, in the hope, it may be, of finding a purchaser for them.
The word for “lad” is a diminutive occurring only here (not in the best text of Mat_11:16), and in many MSS. is accompanied by “one.” The word may mean a servant, but it more probably means a child. One lad! What could he bear for so many?
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Two small fishes.—Better, two fishes. This word, too, is rightly regarded as a diminutive, but it is not a diminutive of “fish.” The original root means to boil; thus the substantive is used, as in Homer, of boiled meat, and then of anything eaten as a relish with bread, and specially of fish. This diminutive is used in the New Testament only here and in Joh_6:11, and in Joh_21:9-10; Joh_21:13. A comparison of the passages will make it clear that St. John means by the word the ordinary relish of fish, which formed, with bread, the staple food of the people.
The whole force of Andrew’s remark, with its diminutive words, rests upon the smallness of their power to help, while Philip had dwelt on the greatness of the need.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 6:9 Barley was the grain of the poor. The…
6:9 Barley was the grain of the poor. The loaves were similar to pita bread. The two fish would have been salted, and with the five loaves of bread would make one meal.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.