John 6 - Easy To Read Version Easy To Read Version
John 6

¹ Later, Jesus went across Lake Galilee (Lake Tiberias).

² Many people followed Jesus. They followed him because they saw the ways Jesus showed his power by healing the sick people.

³ Jesus went up on the side of the hill. He sat there with his followers.

⁴ It was almost the time for the Jewish Passover {\cf2\super [83]} festival.

⁵ Jesus looked up and saw many people coming toward him. Jesus said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough bread for all these people to eat?”

⁶ (Jesus asked Philip this question to test him. Jesus already knew what he planned to do.)

⁷ Philip answered, “We would all have to work a month to buy enough bread for each person here to have only a little piece!”

⁸ Another follower there was Andrew. Andrew was Simon Peter’s brother. Andrew said,

⁹ “Here is a boy with five loaves of barley bread and two little fish. But that is not enough for so many people.”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Tell the people to sit down.” This was a very grassy place. There were about 5,000 men that sat down there.

¹¹ Then Jesus held the loaves of bread. Jesus thanked God for the bread and gave it to the people that were waiting to eat. He did the same with the fish. Jesus gave the people as much as they wanted.

¹² All the people had enough to eat. When they finished, Jesus said to his followers, “Gather the pieces of fish and bread that were not eaten. Don’t waste anything.”

¹³ So the followers gathered up the pieces that were left. The people had started eating with only five loaves of barley bread. But the followers filled twelve large baskets with the pieces of food that were left.

¹⁴ The people saw this miracle {\cf2\super [84]} that Jesus did. The people said, “He must truly be the Prophet {\cf2\super [85]} that is coming into the world.”

¹⁵ Jesus knew that the people wanted him to become king. The people planned to come get Jesus and make him their king. So Jesus left and went into the hills alone.

¹⁶ That evening Jesus’ followers went down to the lake (Lake Galilee).

¹⁷ It was dark now and Jesus had not yet come back to them. The followers got into a boat and started going across the lake to Capernaum.

¹⁸ The wind was blowing very hard. The waves on the lake were becoming bigger.

¹⁹ They rowed the boat about three or four miles. Then they saw Jesus. He was walking on the water. He was coming to the boat. The followers were afraid.

²⁰ But Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. It’s me.”

²¹ After Jesus said this, the followers were happy to take Jesus into the boat. Then the boat came to land at the place where they wanted to go.

²² The next day came. Some people had stayed on the other side of the lake. These people knew that Jesus did not go with his followers in the boat. The people knew that Jesus’ followers had left in the boat alone. And they knew that it was the only boat that was there.

²³ But then some boats from Tiberias came. The boats landed near the place where the people had eaten \{the day before\}. This was where they had eaten the bread after the Lord (Jesus) gave thanks.

²⁴ The people saw that Jesus and his followers were not there now. So the people got into the boats and went to Capernaum. They wanted to find Jesus.

²⁵ The people found Jesus on the other side of the lake. They asked Jesus, “Teacher, when did you come here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “Why are you looking for me? Are you looking for me because you saw me do miracles {\cf2\super [86]} that prove my power? No! I tell you the truth. You are looking for me because you ate the bread and you were satisfied (full).

²⁷ Earthly food spoils and ruins. So don’t work to get that kind of food. But work to get the food that stays good always and gives you life forever. The Son of Man {\cf2\super [87]} will give you that food. God the Father showed that he is with the Son of Man.”

²⁸ The people asked Jesus, “What are the things God wants us to do?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “The work God wants you to do is this: to believe in the One that God sent.”

³⁰ So the people asked, “What miracle {\cf2\super [88]} will you do to prove \{that you are the One God sent\}? If we can see you do a miracle, then we will believe you. What will you do?

³¹ Our fathers (ancestors) ate the manna (food) God gave them in the desert. This is written in the Scriptures {\cf2\super [89]} : ‘God gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ {\cf2\super [90]} ”

³² Jesus said, “I tell you the truth. Moses was not the one that gave your people bread from heaven. But my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

³³ What is the bread of God? God’s bread is the One that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ The people said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵ Then Jesus said, “I am the bread that gives life. The person that comes to me will never be hungry. The person that believes in me will never be thirsty.

³⁶ I told you before that you have seen me, and still you don’t believe.

³⁷ The Father gives me my people. Every one of those people will come to me. I will always accept every person that comes to me.

³⁸ I came down from heaven to do what God wants me to do. I did not come to do what I want to do.

³⁹ I must not lose any person that God has given me. But I must raise up those people on the last day. This is what the One who sent me wants me to do.

⁴⁰ Every person that sees the Son and believes in him has life forever. I will raise up that person on the last day. This is what my Father wants.”

⁴¹ Some Jews began to complain about Jesus. They complained because Jesus said, “I am the bread that comes down from heaven.”

⁴² The Jews said, “This is Jesus. We know his father and mother. Jesus is only Joseph’s son. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

⁴³ But Jesus said, “Stop complaining to each other.

⁴⁴ The Father is the One who sent me. And the Father is the One who brings people to me. I will raise up those people on the last day. If the Father does not bring a person to me, then that person cannot come to me.

⁴⁵ It is written in the prophets {\cf2\super [91]} : ‘God will teach all the people.’ {\cf2\super [92]} People listen to the Father and learn from him. Those people come to me.

⁴⁶ I don’t mean that anyone has seen the Father. The only person that has ever seen the Father is the One that came from God. That person has seen the Father.

⁴⁷ I tell you the truth. If a person believes, then that person has life forever.

⁴⁸ I am the bread that gives life.

⁴⁹ Your ancestors {\cf2\super [93]} ate the manna (food) God gave them in the desert. But it didn’t keep them from dying.

⁵⁰ Here is the bread that comes down from heaven. If a person eats this bread, he will never die.

⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If a person eats this bread, then that person will live forever. This bread is my body. I will give my body so that the people in the world can have life.”

⁵² Then the Jews began to argue among themselves. They said, “How can this man give us his body to eat?”

⁵³ Jesus said, “I tell you the truth. You must eat the body of the Son of Man. {\cf2\super [94]} And you must drink his blood. If you don’t do this, then you don’t have real life in you.

⁵⁴ The person that eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life. I will raise up that person on the last day.

⁵⁵ My body is true food. My blood is true drink.

⁵⁶ If a person eats my body and drinks my blood, then that person lives in me, and I live in that person.

⁵⁷ The Father sent me. The Father lives, and I live because of the Father. So the person that eats me will live because of me.

⁵⁸ I am not like the bread that our ancestors {\cf2\super [95]} ate \{in the desert\}. They ate that bread. But, \{like all people\}, they died. I am the bread that came down from heaven. The person that eats this bread will live forever.”

⁵⁹ Jesus said all these things while he was teaching in the synagogue {\cf2\super [96]} in the city of Capernaum.

⁶⁰ The followers of Jesus heard this. Many of the followers said, “This teaching is hard \{to accept\}. Who can accept this teaching?”

⁶¹ Jesus knew that his followers were complaining about this. So Jesus said, “Is this teaching a problem for you?

⁶² Then will it also be a problem for you to see the Son of Man {\cf2\super [97]} going back to the place where he came from?

⁶³ It is not the body that gives a person life. It is the spirit that gives life. The things I told you are spirit. And so these things give life.

⁶⁴ But some of you don’t believe.” (Jesus knew the people that did not believe. Jesus knew this from the beginning. And Jesus knew the person that would turn against him.)

⁶⁵ Jesus said, “That is why I said, ‘If the Father does not let a person come to me, then that person cannot come.’”

⁶⁶ After Jesus said these things, many of his followers left him. They stopped following Jesus.

⁶⁷ Jesus asked the twelve apostles, {\cf2\super [98]} “Do you want to leave too?”

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered Jesus, “Lord, where would we go? You have the things that give life forever.

⁶⁹ We believe in you. We know that you are the Holy One from God.”

⁷⁰ Then Jesus answered, “I chose all twelve of you. But one of you is a devil.”

⁷¹ Jesus was talking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Judas was one of the twelve \{apostles {\cf2\super [99]} \}. But later Judas would turn against Jesus.