Matthew 14:21

21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

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Matthew 14:21 in Other Translations

KJV

21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

ESV

21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

NLT

21 About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children!

MSG

21 About five thousand were fed.

CSB

21 Now those who ate were about 5,000 men, besides women and children.

Matthew 14:21 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 14:21

And they that had eaten were about five thousand men,
&c.] The word "about", is omitted in the Vulgate Latin, in Munster's Hebrew Gospel, and in the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions, which expressly say there were so many. A large number indeed, to be fed with five loaves and two fishes!

besides women and children;
who were not taken into the account, though they all ate, and were filled, it not being usual with the Jews to number their women; and who might be near as large a number as the men: for generally there is a very great concourse of the female sex, and of children, where anything extraordinary, or out of the way, is to be seen or heard; and of this sort was a large number of Christ's audience, who only came out of curiosity, or for one sinister end or another.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Matthew 14:21 In-Context

19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.

23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone,