John 6:10

10 And Jesus said, `Make the men to sit down;' and there was much grass in the place, the men then sat down, in number, as it were, five thousand,

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 his disciples -- Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter -- saith to him,

9 `There is one little lad here who hath five barley loaves, and two fishes, but these -- what are they to so many?'

10 And Jesus said, `Make the men to sit down;' and there was much grass in the place, the men then sat down, in number, as it were, five thousand,

11 and Jesus took the loaves, and having given thanks he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to those reclining, in like manner, also of the little fishes as much as they wished.

12 And when they were filled, he saith to his disciples, `Gather together the broken pieces that are over, that nothing may be lost;'