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.”
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding Jesus).
Source: SIL International Translation Department (1999).
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.
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 14:17:
Uma: “His disciples answered: ‘We do not have anything, just five breads and two fish.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “His disciples said, ‘We only have here five pieces/loaves of bread and two fish.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “‘What?’ they said, ‘we only have here five pieces of bread and two fish.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then they said, ‘Five breads and two dried-fish only is what is here.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Those disciples of his answered saying, ‘Lord, well, how can that be since there really isn’t anything here, except five units of little-bread and two units of little-fish?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “The learners said to him: ‘But there are only five breads that we have brought and two fish.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
We have only may better be rendered as “All we have” or “The only food that we have.”
Bread (particularly barley bread instead of wheat bread) and fish comprised the basic diet of the poor in Galilee. The mention of five loaves may be deceptive, since people of the western world are accustomed to thinking of a loaf of bread as sufficient for several people for several meals. The Palestinian bread loaves were much smaller, and three loaves were generally considered sufficient for one person during a meal. Five loaves then would have been approximately enough bread for two people.
Some translators will put the information about the size and nature of bread in Galilee into footnotes. But others will render five loaves as “five small loaves of bread.” In 4.3 and later we suggested “bread” is often a figure for food in general. That is not the case here with loaves, where it is actually bread being referred to.
The two fish would have been either smoked or pickled; these were considered a delicacy when eaten as a relish for the bread.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
We have here only: The Greek text is literally “We do not have (anything) here except.” The disciples knew that the little they had would not feed the crowd of thousands.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
we haven’t anything here…except (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
We have nothing here but (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
All we have here are
five loaves of bread and two fish: This is a meal for one person or at most two people.
loaves of bread: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as loaves of bread probably refers to flat breads. One person could eat three to five of these loaves at one meal. It was the common food for a meal.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
loaves ⌊of bread⌋
-or-
⌊small⌋ breads
fish: This was probably a kind of small fish that was already smoked or dried. If your language has a specific word for fish that is already cooked or dried or salted so that it is ready to eat, you should use it here. Otherwise, you should use a general term for fish. The kind of fish is not important.
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