Luke 9:13

13 And he said to them, Give *ye them to eat. And they said, We have not more than five loaves and two fishes, unless *we* should go and buy food for all this people;

Luke 9:13 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 9:13

And he said to them, give ye them to eat
Signifying, that it was not his will to dismiss people, and send them scattering abroad into the adjacent cities, towns, or houses; and that there was no need of it, but that his will was, that they should be supplied with provisions out of their stock:

and they said, we have no more than five loaves and two fishes;
and these loaves were barley loaves, and the fishes small, ( John 6:9 )

except we should go and buy meat for all this people;
which would at least cost them two hundred pence; and which they represent as impossible to be done, either through want of so much money, or the scarcity of provision in those parts; where, had they money, it would be difficult, at least to get such a quantity of provisions at once, which so great a number of persons required.

Luke 9:13 In-Context

11 But the crowds knowing [it] followed him; and he received them and spake to them of the kingdom of God, and cured those that had need of healing.

12 But the day began to decline, and the twelve came and said to him, Send away the crowd that they may go into the villages around, and [into] the fields, and lodge and find victuals, for here we are in a desert place.

13 And he said to them, Give *ye them to eat. And they said, We have not more than five loaves and two fishes, unless *we* should go and buy food for all this people;

14 for they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down in companies by fifties.

15 And they did so, and made them all sit down.