to free fully · verb — aorist active subjunctive, 1st person singular
them
αὐτοὺςautous
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative plural masculine
away
ἀπολύωapolýō
G630
to free fully
fasting
νήστειςnēsteis
G3523
not eating · adjective — accusative plural masculine
to
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
their own
αὐτῶν,autōn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
houses
οἶκονoikon
G3624
a dwelling (more or less extensive · noun — accusative singular masculine
they will faint
ἐκλυθήσονταιekluthēsontai
G1590
to relax (literally or figuratively) · verb — future passive indicative, 3rd person plural
by
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
the way
ὁδῷ·hodō
G3598
a road · noun — dative singular feminine
for
γάρgár
G1063
properly
divers
τινεςtines
G5100
some or any person or object · indefinite pronoun — nominative plural masculine
of them
αὐτῶνautōn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
came
ἥκασιν.¶hēkasin
G2240
to arrive · verb — perfect active indicative, 3rd person plural
from far
μακρόθενmakrothen
G3113
from a distance or afar · adverb
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and…
Judges 8:4-6 And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them.
1 Samuel 14:28-31 Then answered one of the people, and said, Thy father straitly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any fo…
1 Samuel 30:10-12 But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Mark 8:1-9
We had the story of a miracle very like this before, in this gospel (Mar 6:35), and of this same miracle (Mat 15:32), and here is little or no addition or alternation as to the circumstances. Yet observe,
1. That our Lord Jesus was greatly followed; The multitude was very great (Mar 8:1); notwithstanding the wicked arts of the scribes and Pharisees to blemish him, and to blast his interest, the common people, who had more honesty, and therefore more true wisdom, than their leaders, kept up their high thoughts of him. We may suppose that this multitude were generally of the meaner sort of people, with such Christ conversed, and was familiar; for thus he humbled himself, and made himself of no…
For divers of them came from far - And they could not possibly reach their respective homes without perishing, unless they got food.
John Gill on Mark 8:3
And if I send them away fasting to their own houses,.... Greek, "to their own house", or home; but all the Oriental versions render it as we do, in the plural, "their own houses", or habitations; and it seems from hence that they were now tasting, and at least had had no food all that day, whatever they might have the day before, which it not certain.
They will faint by the way; for want of food their strength will be exhausted, their animal spirits will fail, their nerves will be loosened, they will not be able to perform their journey, or get to the end of it:
for divers of them came from far; perhaps some had followed him from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, from whence he came last; and…
The stories about feeding the 4,000 and the 5,000 are similar. All four Gospels report the earlier feeding of the 5,000 (6:35-44; Matt 14:13-21; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15), but only Mark and Matthew (Matt 15:32-39) also record the feeding of the 4,000 as a separate miracle (Mark 8:19-21; Matt 16:9-10). The details of the events are different.
8:1-3 The last reference to a large crowd was at the feeding of the 5,000 (6:34). Jesus showed compassion in 6:34 because the people “were like sheep without a shepherd.” These stories reflect Jesus’ concern for the total person—this time especially for the people’s hunger. They were in the wilderness (8:4) and had no food (8:1). They had been with Jes…
The Church Fathers
(Mor. 1, 19) He does not however wish to dismiss them fasting, lest they should faint by the way; for it is necessary that men should find in what is preached the word of consolation, lest hungering through want of the food of truth, they sink under the toil of this life.
(ubi sup.) But they who return to repentance after the crimes of the flesh, after thefts, violence, and murders, come to the Lord from afar; for in proportion as a man has wandered farther in evil working, so he has wandered farther from Almighty God. The believers amongst the Gentiles came from afar to Christ, but the Jews from near, for they had been taught concerning Him by the letter of the law and the prophets. In the former case, however, of the feeding with five loaves, the multitude lay upon the green grass; here, however, upon the ground, because by the writing of the law, we are ordered to keep under the desires of the flesh, but in the New Testament we are ordered to leave even the earth itself and our temporal goods.
(in Luc. 6:73) The good Lord indeed whilst He requires diligence, gives strength; nor will He dismiss them fasting, lest they faint by the way, that is, either in the course of this life, or before they have reached the fountainhead head of life, that is, the Father, and have learnt that Christ is of the Father, lest haply, after receiving that He is born of a virgin, they begin to esteem His virtue not that of God, but of a man. Therefore the Lord Jesus divides the food, and His will indeed is to give to all, to deny none; He is the Dispenser of all things, but if thou refusest to stretch forth thy hand to receive the food, thou wilt faint by the way, nor canst thou find fault with Him, who pities and divides.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
