Exegesis:
apekrithēsan ‘they answered’: the verb apokrinomai ‘answer’ is used in the aorist passive, with active meaning, here and at 9.6, 17; 11.29, 30; 12.28, 29, 34; 14.40; 15.5, 9; it appears with legei ‘he says’ in 7.28, and is used in the middle voice in 14.60, 61; 15.4 (for its use as a participle with legei ‘he says’ or eipen ‘he said’ cf. 3.33).
hoti ‘that’: introducing direct speech.
pothen toutous dunēsetai tis hōde chortasai artōn ep’ erēmias; ‘where can any one here in the desert (get the food to) feed these (people)’; Translator’s New Testament ‘From where shall anyone be able here in a wilderness to satisfy these with bread?’
pothen (cf. 6.2) ‘whence,’ ‘from where’: it may also be used with the meaning ‘how’ as in 12.37, and that is the meaning assigned to it here by Revised Standard Version; Lagrange comment.
hōde (6.3; 9.1, 5; 11.3; 13.2, 21; 14.32, 34; 16.6) ‘here.’
chortasai artōn (cf. 6.42) ‘feed with bread,’ i.e. ‘feed,’ ‘satisfy (their hunger),’ ‘fill.’
ep’ erēmias (only here in Mark) ‘in (this) uninhabited place,’ ‘in this isolated spot’ (cf. erēmos ‘wilderness’ 1.3): this phrase defines the character of hōde ‘here.’
Translation:
Answered is not to be understood in reply to a question, though it may have been implied. The basic meaning is ‘replied,’ but in languages which require the introduction of a question by the appropriate verb, one may use ‘asked in reply.’
Feed must be carefully translated in instances in which a distinction is made between providing food for people and giving food to animals. Feed … with bread may be most naturally rendered in some instances as ‘give them bread to eat.’
While the Greek uses an indefinite tis ‘any one,’ some languages require either a noun ‘any man’ or a first person plural ‘we.’ In this latter instance one must then determine in some languages whether the inclusive or exclusive first person plural must be used, that is to say, were the disciples thinking only of their own inability to feed the people, in contrast with Jesus’ presumed ability? It is probably better, however, to use the inclusive form, implying the complete inability, as far as the disciples could determine, to provide food for such a large group in this desert place.
For desert see wilderness 1.3.
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .