John 6:10

10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." The people had plenty of grass to sit on. (There were about 5,000 men in the crowd.)

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 Jesus' disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter's brother, told him,

9 "A boy who has five loaves of barley bread and two small fish is here. But they won't go very far for so many people."

10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." The people had plenty of grass to sit on. (There were about 5,000 men in the crowd.)

11 Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same thing with the fish. All the people ate as much as they wanted.

12 When the people were full, Jesus told his disciples, "Gather the leftover pieces so that nothing will be wasted."