John 6:10

10 Jesus said, Let the people be seated. Now there was much grass in that place. And those seated on the grass were about five thousand.

John 6:10 Meaning and Commentary

John 6:10

Jesus said, make the men sit down
The Syriac version reads, "all the men"; and the Persic version, "all the people"; men, women, and children: Christ, without reproving his disciples for their unbelief, ordered them directly to place the people upon the ground, and seat them in rows by hundreds and by fifties, in a rank and company, as persons about to take a meal:

now there was much grass in the place;
at the bottom of the mountain; and it was green, as one of the evangelists observes, it being the spring of the year, and was very commodious to sit down upon:

so the men sat down, in number about five thousand;
besides women and children, ( Matthew 14:21 ) , so that there was but one loaf for more than a thousand persons.

John 6:10 In-Context

8 One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to Jesus,

9 There is a boy here with five barley cakes and two fishes: but what is that among such a number?

10 Jesus said, Let the people be seated. Now there was much grass in that place. And those seated on the grass were about five thousand.

11 Then Jesus took the cakes and having given praise to God, he gave them to the people who were seated, and the fishes in the same way, as much as they had need of.

12 And when they had had enough, Jesus said to his disciples, Take up the broken bits which are over, so that nothing may be wasted.