John 6:10

10 Jesus said, "Tell the people to sit down." This was a very grassy place, and about five thousand men sat down there.

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 Another one of his followers, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said,

9 "Here is a boy with five loaves of barley bread and two little fish, but that is not enough for so many people."

10 Jesus said, "Tell the people to sit down." This was a very grassy place, and about five thousand men sat down there.

11 Then Jesus took the loaves of bread, thanked God for them, and gave them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, giving as much as the people wanted.

12 When they had all had enough to eat, Jesus said to his followers, "Gather the leftover pieces of fish and bread so that nothing is wasted."