barley bread

The Greek that is translated as “barley bread” (or: “barley loaf”) in English is translated in Elhomwe as “cheap bread.” Barely bread had the reputation of being cheaper than wheat (see here) and since neither barley nor its reputation are being known in Malawi, it was decided to translated explicitly.(Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

See also barley.

fish

During the translation of one of the miracles of feeding or crowds with fish and bread into Yami, Graham Ogden tells this story:

“A small population on tiny Orchid Island, off the S-E coast of Taiwan, depended to a large extent on fishing as a source of food. When translating the story of the Five Loaves and Two Fish the translator asked a question that took me by surprise. He asked what kind of fish they were. I said they were just fish! But he said, I have to know what kind of fish they were because we have no word ‘fish.’ How come? I asked. He said we have no general word, because every fish has a name. So I suggested he choose a common type. He then said, But was it a fish that only men can eat or only women? Do you mean that there are cultural restrictions on who can eat which kind of fish? Yes, he said. Is there not one kind of fish that everyone can eat, given the circumstances? Oh yes, he said, there is one kind. Then that’s the name to use, I said. He was satisfied with that answer.”

But what are they among so many people?

The Greek in John 6:9 that is translated as “But what are they among so many people?” or similar in English is translated in Matumbi as “But this amount of food for this crowd of people, who will get to eat and who will be left out?” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

Feeding of the Five Thousand

1936 painting by Wang Suda 王肅達 (1910-1963),
Housed in the Société des Auxiliaires des Missions Collection – Whitworth University
(click image to enlarge)

Image taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.

Following is a 1973 painting of the JESUS MAFA project, a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings:

Jesus stands in the center inspecting the baskets of leftover food the disciples are bringing to him. All around him are content crowds of people who have just been fed. The miracle of this story rests in Jesus’ taking the resources people shared and breaking (read dividing) them among all in attendance that day. Christians are called to live and follow Christ in his example—this means sharing what we have with those around us, especially those in need. In this world, there is plenty to go around. Rather than projecting a gospel of prosperity, we should radiate a gospel of giving.

From Art in the Christian Tradition , a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved March 23, 2026. Original source: librairie-emmanuel.fr.

complete verse (John 6:9)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 6:9:

  • Uma: “‘Here is a child who has [lit., food-bundled] five pieces of bread and two smoked fish, but what use is that for those many people?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “He said to Isa, ‘There is a small boy here, he has five units of bread and two fish. But this really isn’t enough to feed all these people.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “‘There is a child here who brought a lunch of five pieces of bread of barley flour and two fishes. But what good would this be since there are so many people?'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘Here is a male child who has taken-as-lunch five barley breads and two dried-fish. But this is by-contrast very-few (CVC redup. of how-many) with this many people (lit. manyness of people).'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “‘There’s a child here, a young-boy, with packed-food-for-a-trip, however what is to be done with five units of small-bread and two units of small-fish? It really wouldn’t be enough to go around all that crowd of people.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “‘There is here a boy who has five breads and two fish. But where will they do any good, there are a lot of people.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Chol: “‘Here is a boy. He has five unites of food made of cebada (barley) and two fish. Is this enough for so many of us (incl.)?'” (Source: Larson 1998, p. 107)

barley

Barley Hordeum distichum or Hordeum vulgare is a type of grass like wheat and rice. It has been cultivated in the Middle East for thousands of years and is now one of the most prominent seed crops grown in the world. Twenty species are known, of which eight are European. Barley needs less rain than wheat does, so in the Holy Land it was typically found in the drier areas above the coastal plain and near the desert. From 2 Kings 7:1 and Revelation 6:6 we know that barley was considered inferior to wheat and was often used to feed animals, as it is today. When the wheat supply ran out, people had to make their bread with barley. Barley was gathered before wheat, the harvest coming around March or April in the lower regions and in May in the mountains (see Exodus 9:31 et al.). In Egypt and in ancient Greece barley was used to make beer.

Barley plants look like wheat or rice. They are less than 1 meter (3 feet) tall, and have a single head on each stalk, with six rows of kernels, although the biblical kind may have had only two rows. The head bends at a down-ward angle when it is ripe.

In the story of Gideon and the Midianites in Judges 7:13, “a cake of barley” representing the (despised) Israelite army tumbles into the Midianite camp and knocks down the tent (representing the nomadic Midianites).

Barley is a plant of temperate zones, like Europe and the Near East; it does not grow well in the tropics. However, barley has been recently introduced along with wheat into many parts of the world for brewing beer and other malted drinks. It is also known to have grown in Korea as early as 1500 B.C. along with wheat and millet. It is becoming known in Malay as barli. Except for the reference in Judges, all references to barley in the Bible are non-rhetorical, so unrelated cultural equivalents are discouraged. Some receptor language speakers may coin a name for it as in Malay, or the translator can use a transliteration from Hebrew (se‘orah), Latin (horideyo), or from a major language (for example, Arabic sha’ir, Spanish cebada, French orge, Portuguese cevada, Swahili shayiri), together with a classifier, if there is one (for example, “grain of shayir”).

Barley, Wikimedia Commons

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

See also barley bread.

Translation commentary on John 6:9

The word translated boy in Good News Translation and New English Bible appears only here in the New Testament. It is a double diminutive, but this form does not necessarily mean “a small boy” (Jerusalem Bible). In the Septuagint of Genesis 37.30 the same word is used of Joseph, who was 17 years old at the time. The word may also mean “servant” (Moffatt), a meaning well attested elsewhere. In the Greek translation of 2 Kgs. 4.12, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, is referred to by this word. Since this chapter contains the account of Elisha’s miraculous feeding of one hundred men, in which he is assisted by his servant, some believe that John’s choice of this word was influenced by the Old Testament account. However, it is not a necessary assumption, and most translators prefer the meaning boy rather than “servant.”

Barley bread was the ordinary food of the poor, since it was cheaper than wheat bread. In the parts of the world where barley is not known, it may be possible to use such a phrase as “a wheat-like grain called barley.” Or a classifying expression may be used, for example, “a grain called barley” or “barley grain,” in which a term for “grain” would be applicable to any type of grain (rice, kafir corn, maize, etc.).

Originally the word translated fish (Greek opsarion) meant cooked food eaten with bread. However, it acquired the specific meaning, fish, especially dried or preserved fish, which seems to be the meaning here and in verse 11. In John 21.9,10,13 the word is used of freshly caught fish.

But they will certainly not be enough for all these people translates a rhetorical question in Greek, which in earlier editions of Good News Translation appeared as a question (“But what good are they for all these people?”) It was a valid question, especially since Luke 11.5 implies that three loaves were looked upon as the amount required for one meal for one person. This question may be rendered “But how will they help all these people?” or “How will they satisfy…?” or even “How will these be enough for all these people?”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .