John 6:35-59
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
35 [a]Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.(A) 36 But I told you that although you have seen [me], you do not believe.(B) 37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, 38 because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.(C) 39 And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it [on] the last day.(D) 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him [on] the last day.”(E)
41 The Jews murmured about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” 42 and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”(F) 43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring[b] among yourselves.(G) 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets:
‘They shall all be taught by God.’
Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.(H) 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.(I) 47 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;(J) 50 this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”(K)
52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats[c] my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.(L) 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” 59 These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life.[d]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 6:35–59 Up to Jn 6:50 “bread of life” is a figure for God’s revelation in Jesus; in Jn 6:51–58, the eucharistic theme comes to the fore. There may thus be a break between Jn 6:50–51.
- 6:43 Murmuring: the word may reflect the Greek of Ex 16:2, 7–8.
- 6:54–58 Eats: the verb used in these verses is not the classical Greek verb used of human eating, but that of animal eating: “munch,” “gnaw.” This may be part of John’s emphasis on the reality of the flesh and blood of Jesus (cf. Jn 6:55), but the same verb eventually became the ordinary verb in Greek meaning “eat.”
- 6:60–71 These verses refer more to themes of Jn 6:35–50 than to those of Jn 6:51–58 and seem to be addressed to members of the Johannine community who found it difficult to accept the high christology reflected in the bread of life discourse.
John 6:35-59
1599 Geneva Bible
35 And Jesus said unto them, I am that bread [a]of life: he that cometh to me, shall not hunger, and he that believeth in me, shall never thirst.
36 But I said unto you, that ye also have seen me, and believe not.
37 [b]All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me: and him that cometh to me, I cast not away.
38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine [c]own will, but his will which hath sent me.
39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every man which [d]seeth the Son, and believeth in him, should have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
41 [e]The Jews then murmured at him because he said, I am that bread, which is come down from heaven.
42 And they said, (A)Is not this Jesus that son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how then saith he, I came down from heaven?
43 Jesus then answered, and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.
44 No man can come to me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
45 It is written in the (B)[f]Prophets, And they shall be all [g]taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me:
46 (C)Not that any man hath seen the Father, [h]save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
47 Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth in me, hath everlasting life.
48 [i]I am that bread of life.
49 (D)Your fathers did eat Manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50 [j]This is that bread, which cometh down from heaven, that he which eateth of it, should not die.
51 [k]I am that [l]living bread, which came down from heaven: if any man [m]eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
52 [n]Then the Jews strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have [o]no life in you.
54 Whosoever (E)eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
57 As [p]that living Father hath sent me, so live I by the [q]Father, and he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers have eaten Manna, and are dead. He that eateth of this bread, shall live forever.
59 These things spake he in the Synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- John 6:35 Which have life, and give life.
- John 6:37 The gift of faith proceedeth from the free election of the Father in Christ, after which followeth necessarily everlasting life: Therefore faith in Christ Jesus is a sure witness of our election, and therefore of our glorification, which is to come.
- John 6:38 See John 5:22.
- John 6:40 Seeing and believing are joined together: for there is another kind of seeing, which is general, which the devils have, for they see: but here he speaketh of that kind of seeing, which is proper to the elect.
- John 6:41 Flesh cannot perceive spiritual things, and therefore the beginning of our salvation cometh from God, who changeth our nature, so that we being inspired of him, may abide to be instructed and saved by Christ.
- John 6:45 In the book of the Prophets, for the old Testament was divided by them into three several parts, into the Law the Prophets, and the Holy writ.
- John 6:45 To wit, they shall be children of the Church, for so the Prophet Isaiah expoundeth it, Isa. 54:13, that is to say, ordained to life, Acts 13:48, and therefore the knowledge of the heavenly truth, is the gift and work of God, and standeth not in any power of man.
- John 6:46 If the son only hath seen the Father, then it is he only that can teach and instruct us truly.
- John 6:48 The true use of Sacraments, is to ascend from them to the thing itself, that is to Christ: and by the partaking of whom only, we get everlasting life.
- John 6:50 He pointed out himself when he spake these words.
- John 6:51 Christ being sent from the Father, is the selfsame unto us for the getting and keeping of everlasting life, that bread and flesh, yea meat and drink are to the use of this transitory life.
- John 6:51 Which giveth life to the world.
- John 6:51 That is to say, whosoever is partaker of Christ indeed, who is our food.
- John 6:52 Flesh cannot put a difference between fleshly eating which is done by the help of the teeth, and spiritual eating which consisteth in faith, and therefore is condemneth that which it understandeth not: yet notwithstanding the truth must be preached and taught.
- John 6:53 If Christ be present, life is present, but when Christ is absent, then is death present.
- John 6:57 In that that Christ is man, he receiveth that power which quickeneth and giveth life to them that are his, of his Father: and he addeth this word (That) to make a difference between him and all other fathers.
- John 6:57 Christ his meaning is, that though he be man, yet his flesh can give life, not of the own nature, but because that flesh of his liveth by the Father, that is to say, death suck and draw out of the Father, that power which it hath to give life.
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