Greek: Matthew 14:13-21
v13 ακουσας (ακουω) aor. part. "when [Jesus] heard what had happened" - adverbial, probably temporal, provides the reason for Jesus' move to "a solitary place", namely, away from Herod Antipas. Note that in Mark and Luke the reason is to find rest.
ερημον τοπον "a solitary/desolate place. The sense is "wilderness" and no doubt the word is used to cue us to the Exodus symbolism – not so much "desert" as "deserted".
κατ ιδιαν "privately" – literally by himself. The Greek may mean that Jesus went alone into the wilderness, but then what about the disciples? Possibly further describing the "desolate place", namely, "he went by boat to an uninhabited and secluded district", but the meaning "privately [with the disciples]" is most likely given that the disciples were obviously present in the boat, Matthew is purposely focusing our attention on Jesus.
ακουσαντες (ακουω) aor. part. "hearing of this" – adverbial.
πεζη adv. "on foot" - traveling by land on foot.
v14 εξελθων (εξερχομαι) aor. part. "when [Jesus] landed" - having gotten out of the boat".
εσπλαγχνισθη (σπλαγχνιζομαι) aor. pas. "he had compassion" – literally, “his guts were moved” for their spiritual hunger.
v15 οψιας gen. adj. as "evening" - late in the day; not yet dark γενομενης (γινομαι) gen. aor. part. "as [evening] approached".
η ωρα ηδη παρηλθεν "it's already getting late" - the supper hour had passed.
απολυσον (απολυω) aor. imp. "release [the crowds] - although a command, the sense may be more like an enquiry, "shouldn't you send the people away?", The people are not poverty stricken, they have funds to buy their own food.
απελθοντες (απερχομαι) aor. part. "go [to the villages]" - attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the subjunctive verb "may buy".
εαυτοις dat. refl. pro. "themselves [some food]" - Dative of advantage.
v16 αυτοις dat. pro. "replied" - [said] to them. Dative of indirect object.
χρειαν (α) "[they do not] need" - [they have no] need. Moving the phrase into the positive helps to bring out the emphatic nature of the following "you". "You sort out a meal for them."
απελθειν (απερχομαι) aor. inf. "to go away" - to go away, depart. The infinitive expresses the nature of the "need".
δοτε (διδωμι) aor. imp. "you give" - give. Note the similarity with Elisha's words, "give it to the people, and let them eat", cf. 2 Kings 4:38-44. Also note the results of Elisha's feeding where "they ate and had some left."
φαγειν (εσθιω) aor. inf. "something to eat" - The infinitive serves as the direct object of the verb "give". The assumed "something" is probably better "food / meal"; "give some food to eat/a meal to eat to them".
v17 What the disciples have is a plowman's lunch, a meal for the working class, cf. Jn.6:9. ουκ εχομεν ωδε "we have here" - we do not have here. The negation is emphatic expressing the disciples' negative reaction. αρτους (ος) "loaves of bread" - be barley flat breads/pita bread. εχθυας (υς υος) "fish" - pickled/salted fish. Due to only light salting (a cost issue) this fish was not something modern taste-buds would easily get around. It was more fermented than pickled and had a slightly rotten taste.
v19 κελευσας (κελευω) aor. part. "he directed". As with "having taken" and "having looked up", attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the main verb.
ανακλιθηναι (ανακλινω) aor. pas. inf. "to sit down" - to recline at the table to eat, to lie down = sit down. The infinitive forms an object clause, "he ordered that the people should sit down."
λαβων (λαμβανω) aor. part. "taking" possibly with a temporal sense; "and then he took the five loaves ...." He received the food from the disciples for the purpose of blessing. "He held the food in his hands."
αναβλεψας (αβαβλεπω) aor. part. "looking up [to heaven]" "receiving sight" is the meaning elsewhere in Matthew, the word obviously has the sense here of looking upward to the sky above.
ευλογησεν (ευλογεω) aor. "he blessed, gave thanks, praised”. The object is unstated, so either "the food", or "God". The fact that he "looked up to heaven indicates that the blessing is an act of praise to God the provider rather than a consecration of the food.
κλασας (κλαω) aor. part. "broke" - expressing action accompanying the verb "he gave", although again possibly best expressed temporally; "then he broke the bread and gave to the disciples." In the NT this word is always used of the symbolic action indicating the commencement of a meal by the head of the table. Jesus possibly shared out the fish this way as well, but it is not stated..
τοις οχλοις (ος) dat. "[and the disciples gave them] to the people".
v20 εχορτασθησαν (χορταζω) aor. pas. "were satisfied" - filled. The word is used of fattening animals, "fatten", therefore of a satisfying meal. Here, completely satisfied, "they had eaten more than enough."
η ραν (αιρω) aor. "[the disciples] picked up". Δωδεκα adj. "twelve [basketfuls]" - Twelve full wicker baskets stands in apposition to "the fragmented leftovers." "The number twelve is probably symbolic: food for all Israel".
των κλασματων (α ατος) gen. "of broken pieces" - fragments, , crumbs. The genitive is adjectival, attributive, limiting "leftovers"; here, it probably does not mean crusts and half eaten food left over, but rather untouched bread and fish, so "the broken portions that remained over rather than "the scraps."
το περισσευον (περισσευω) pres. part. "that were left over" - the thing left over, excess, the leftovers- a substantive. There was more than enough food such that there was excess food left over.
v21 οι εσθιοντες (εσθιω) pres. part. "the number of those who ate" were 5000
ανδρες (ηρ δρος) "men" - only the men were counted.
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