6:41a

Taking the five loaves and the two fish: One of the disciples gave Jesus the loaves and fish, and Jesus took them.

loaves…fish: Use the same word for loaves that you used in 6:38a and the same word for fish that you used in 6:38c.

6:41b

and looking up to heaven: Jesus looked up toward the sky/heaven because he was about to thank God. Jewish people commonly looked upward toward heaven while they prayed.

heaven: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as heaven here refers to the sky as a symbol of God’s dwelling place. Since Jesus literally looked upward at the sky, you could translate the word heaven here with the usual word for sky. You do not have to use a special term that refers to the place where God lives.

6:41c

Jesus spoke a blessing: There are two ways to interpret the Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Jesus spoke a blessing:

(1) It refers to thanking God for the food. For example, the New Century Version says:

he thanked God for the food

(New International Version, Good News Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, NET Bible, New Century Version)

(2) It refers to blessing the food. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

blessed the food

(Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation, New American Standard Bible, God’s Word, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, King James Version, New Jerusalem Bible)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). As a custom, Jews praised God and thanked him for the food that he provided for them. If you need to make some of the implicit information clear, you could say:

He gave thanks to God for the food

In some languages the meaning of Jesus giving thanks for the food needs to be expressed with a direct quote. For example:

He said “Thank you.”

See bless, Meaning 4, in the Glossary.

and broke the loaves: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as broke the loaves refers to tearing the bread into large pieces. This was the normal way a meal was begun. Use a term in your language that refers to dividing bread. Here is an example:

and tore/divided the loaves

6:41d

Then He gave them to His disciples: The words Then he gave them to his disciples refer to Jesus giving the pieces of bread to his disciples.

disciples: See the note at 6:1c.

to set before the people: This is a purpose clause. Jesus gave the bread to his disciples so that they would give it to the people.

set before the people: The words set before the people imply that the disciples were to go out among the groups of people to give them the bread. They may have carried the bread in baskets and set the baskets in front of each group of people. Then the people could pass the bread around.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

distribute to the people (Good News Bible)
-or-
give to the people (New Century Version)

6:41e

And He divided the two fish among them all: The words divided…among them all imply a similar process to the one in 6:41b–c for breaking and distributing the bread. For example:

He also divided the two fish, so that everyone could have some.

Some languages may need to make it more explicit that Jesus distributed the fish the same way he did the bread. In other words, he asked his disciples to pass the pieces of fish among the groups of people. Here is one example:

In the same way, he divided and distributed the two fish among the people.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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