Paragraph 8:6–10

In this paragraph, Jesus told the crowd to sit down. He said a prayer of thanksgiving for the bread and the fish. Then he asked the disciples to give the food to the people. Jesus performed a miracle by feeding four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and a few fish.

8:6a

And: In Greek, 8:6 begins with a common conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And. Here it introduces what Jesus did next. Some other English versions do not translate this word.

Here are some other ways to translate it:

Then (NET Bible)
-or-
So (New Living Translation)

He instructed the crowd to sit down: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as instructed is literally “gives orders.” It indicates that Jesus was giving instructions to the large crowd. Your translation of the word instructed should not suggest that Jesus was speaking harshly to the people.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

told the crowd to sit down (New International Version, 2011 edition)
-or-
directed the crowd to sit down (NET Bible)

In some languages it may be more natural to use a causative expression for this phrase. For example:

caused the people to sit down

to sit down: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as sit down is literally to “recline.” Jewish people usually lay on one side when they ate. You may want to use the usual position that people use when they eat in your culture, as most English versions do.

on the ground: Jesus told the people to sit on the ground because he was about to give them food. Because they were in the wilderness, they had to sit on the ground. In some languages it may be unnecessary to specify that they sat on the ground, since it may be clear from the context. If that is true in your language, you may leave this phrase implicit. For example:

He told the people to sit down

8:6b–c

Then: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Then is literally “and.” It introduces the part of the verse that tells what Jesus did after the people sat down. Connect 8:6b–c to the previous event in a natural way in your language.

He took the seven loaves, gave thanks and broke them: In Greek, the actions in 8:6b, took the seven loaves and gave thanks, prepare for the main actions in 8:6c. In some languages it may be more natural to translate the actions in 8:6b as an independent sentence, as the Berean Standard Bible and many other versions do. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

…he took the seven loaves and blessed them. He then broke the loaves….

He took the seven loaves: The clause He took the seven loaves indicates that Jesus took the loaves from the disciples. Then he held them while he gave thanks for them.

the seven loaves: The phrase the seven loaves refers to the loaves that were mentioned in 8:5a. See how you translated loaves there.

gave thanks: Jesus thanked God for the bread that he had. In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit that Jesus thanked God. For example:

gave thanks to God (Good News Bible)
-or-
thanked God for them (New Living Translation)

See how you translated “spoke a blessing” in 6:41. The Greek word that is used there is not the same word as the one used here, but it has a similar meaning. See also bless, Meaning 4, in the Glossary.

8:6c

and broke them: The phrase and broke them means that Jesus tore the bread into pieces. The word them refers to the loaves of bread. The bread was like flat cakes that someone could easily break or tear into pieces. Use a term in your language that refers to dividing bread. For example:

and tore/divided the loaves in two

See how you translated broke in 6:41c.

and gave them to His disciples: Jesus gave the pieces of bread to his disciples so that they could feed the people.

8:6d

to set before the people. And they distributed them to the crowd: The phrase to set before the people implies that the disciples were to go out among the groups of people to give them the bread.

In some languages it may be more natural to combine the two phrases in this part of the verse. For example:

to serve to the people (God’s Word)
-or-
who passed them out to the crowd (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
who distributed the bread to the crowd (New Living Translation)

Translate in a clear way that does not sound redundant or unnatural.

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