Mark 6:38

38 And he saith to them: How many loaves have you? go and see. And when they knew, they say: Five, and two fishes.

Mark 6:38 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 6:38

And he saith unto them, how many loaves have ye?
&c.] This he said, not as ignorant, but as willing to try their faith yet more, and that the after miracle might be more manifest and illustrious:

go and see;
meaning, either that they should examine their own store, if they had any; or rather go and see what was to be had upon the spot, among the company, for money;

and when they knew, they say five loaves and two fishes:
when they had made inquiry what provisions there were, and the most that could be got at any rate, they tell him, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, particularly, that there was a boy among the multitude that had five barley loaves, and two small fishes; and, at the same time, suggests, that they were nothing for so great a company.

Mark 6:38 In-Context

36 Send them away, that going into the next villages and towns, they may buy themselves meat to eat.
37 And he answering said to them: Give you them to eat. And they said to him: Let us go and buy bread for two hundred pence, and we will give them to eat.
38 And he saith to them: How many loaves have you? go and see. And when they knew, they say: Five, and two fishes.
39 And he commanded them that they should make them all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties.
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