Feeding the multitude

[5] The second miracle, the "Feeding of the 4,000", with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish, is reported in Matthew 15:32–39[6] and Mark 8:1–9[7] but not in Luke or John.

According to the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been killed, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.

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

I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.His disciples answered: "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?"

[12] Cornelius a Lapide stated that a σπυρίς spyrís or 'large basket' was double the size of a κόφινος kófinos.

[13] An indication of the size of a spyrís is that the apostle Paul was let out of a building through a gap in the Damascus city wall in one in order to avert a plot to kill him (Acts 9:25).

[13] Meyer also comments that in the Gospel of John, the feeding of the multitude is taken as a further sign (Biblical Greek: σημεῖον sémeion) that Jesus is the Messiah, the prophet who (according to the promise in the Book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 18:15))[14] is to "come into the world" (John 6:14).