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 (Matthew 14:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 14:18:

  • Uma: “Yesus said: ‘Bring it here.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Isa said, ‘Bring them here to me.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “‘Bring it here,’ said Jesus.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But then Jesus said, ‘Bring-it here.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “‘Bring them here to me,’ said Jesus.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Jesus said to his learners: ‘Give me the bread and the fish.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("say")

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Matthew 14:18

And he said: Good News Translation identifies the pronoun he as Jesus (“Jesus said”).

It may be necessary in some languages to substitute a descriptive phrase for them: “the loaves of bread and the fish.”

In many languages indirect speech will be preferable, as in “Jesus told them to take (or, bring) the bread and fish to him.”

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Matthew 14:18

14:18

Bring them here to Me: When Jesus told his disciples to bring the bread and the fish to him, the text implies that they did what he told them to do. In some languages, it may be necessary to make this information explicit. For example:

He said, “Bring them here to me,” ⌊and they did⌋

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