Mark 8:1

The Feeding of Four Thousand

1 In those days there was again a large crowd, and they did not have anything they could eat. Summoning the disciples, he said to them,

Mark 8:1 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 8:1

In those days
The Ethiopic version reads, on that day; as if it was on the same day that the deaf man was healed; and so it might be; and on the third day from Christ's coming into those parts; and so is very properly expressed, "in those days"; see ( Mark 7:31 ) , compared with the following verse:

the multitude being very great:
for the number of men that ate, when the following miracle was wrought, were about four thousand; see ( Mark 8:9 ) . The Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions add, "again"; referring to the former miracle of the five thousand, who were fed with five loaves, and two fishes, ( Mark 6:44 ) .

And having nothing to eat;
what they might have brought with them being expended, and they in a desert, where nothing was to be had, nor bought for money:

Jesus called his disciples to him, and saith unto them;
(See Gill on Matthew 15:32).

Mark 8:1 In-Context

1 In those days there was again a large crowd, and they did not have anything they could eat. Summoning the disciples, he said to them,

2 "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have remained with me three days already and do not have anything to eat.

3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes they will give out on the way, and some of them have come from far away."

4 And his disciples answered him, "Where is anyone able to feed these [people] with bread here in the desert?"

5 And he asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" So they said, "Seven."

Footnotes

• [a] *Here the participle ("was") is translated as a finite verb because of English style
• [b] *Here the participle ("have") is translated as a finite verb because of English style