to hold (used in very various applications · verb — imperfect active indicative, 3rd person plural
few
ὀλίγα·oliga
G3641
puny (in extent · adjective — accusative plural neuter
fishes
ἰχθύδιαichthudia
G2485
a petty fish · noun — accusative plural neuter
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
blessed
εὐλογήσαςeulogēsas
G2127
to speak well of · verb — aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
commanded
εἶπενeipen
G2036
to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
set
παρατιθέναι.paratithenai
G3908
to place alongside · verb — present active infinitive
them
αὐτόςautós
G846
the reflexive pronoun self
also
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
before
παρατίθημιparatíthēmi
G3908
to place alongside
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
Matthew 14:19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed,…
Luke 6:41 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Luke 24:41-42 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
John 21:5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.
John 21:8-9 And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with f…
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…
And they had a few small fishes - This is not noticed in the parallel place, Mat 15:36.
John Gill on Mark 8:7
And they had a few small fishes,.... Which they also acquainted Christ with, and brought out unto him:
and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. It looks, by this account, as if the fishes were blessed, and brake, and distributed separately, alter the blessing, breaking, and distribution of the bread; and so the Syriac version renders it, "upon whom also he blessed"; and the Persic thus, "and he also blessed the fishes"; but, according to Matthew they were both blessed, and brake, and distributed together, as it is highly reasonable to suppose they were both ate together; See Gill on Matthew 15:36.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Mark 8:6-7
took, thanked God, distributed: These terms foreshadow the Last Supper (cp. 14:22-25).
And not only the bread, but the fish also He blessed, and ordered to be set before them. For there comes after, And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them.
The small fishes blessed are the books of the New Testament, for our Lord when risen asks for a piece of broiled fish; or else in these little fishes, we receive the saints, seeing that in the Scriptures of the New Testament are contained the faith, life, and sufferings of them who, snatched away from the troubled waves of this world, have given us by their example spiritual refreshment.
And they had some small fishes, and he blessed them and ordered them to be set before them. If in the seven loaves is signified the Scripture of the New Testament, in the reading of which we find internal feasts for the mind through the grace of the Holy Spirit, what do we accept in the small fishes which the Lord blessed and likewise ordered to be set before the crowd, except the saints of that time, when the same Scripture was composed, or whose faith, life, and sufferings that very Scripture contains? Who, having been rescued from the turbulent waves of this world and consecrated by divine blessing, have provided us with internal refreshment, so that we do not fail in the passing journey of this world, by the example of their life or death.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
