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MATTHEW 14:17 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 14:16Matt 14:18
“And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.”
They said to him: we have only five loaves here and five fish. The disciples' inventory — five loaves and two fish — communicates the hopeless inadequacy of their resources. The only five loaves and two fish is the disciples' honest assessment of what they have: not nothing, but far too little. The inadequacy of the available resources is the necessary context for the miracle that will multiply them.

Church Fathers on Matthew 14:17

It is a proof of the faith of these multitudes that they endured hunger in waiting for the Lord even till evening; to which purpose it follows, 'And when it was evening, his disciples came unto him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past.'

Chrysostom · 4th century

Wherein He calls the Apostles to breaking of bread, that the greatness of the miracle might be more evident by their testimony that they had none.

Jerome · 4th century

It may perplex some how, if the Lord, according to the relation of John, asked Philip whence bread was to be found for them, that can be true which Matthew here relates, that the disciples first prayed the Lord to send the multitudes away, that they might buy food from the nearest towns. Suppose then that after these words the Lord looked upon the multitude and said what John relates, but Matthew and the others have omitted. And by such cases as this none ought to be…

Augustine · 4th century · De Cons. Ev., ii, 46
Read all 22 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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