What Does Mark 6:38 Mean?
He said to them, How many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they had come to know, they said, Five, and two fish.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.THE KEY
The first movement toward provision is seeing clearly what is already in hand.
THE MEANING
This verse meets you with a question that turns your attention toward what is already present. The answer comes after you go and look, and the small count is spoken plainly. What is here is real before its full reach is known.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a small supply is no supply at all dissolves when what is present is brought into view.
THE ROOT
γνόντες
gnóntes from ginōskō
GROWS FROM
γνω- / γινωσκ-
To come to know, recognize, or become aware.
“had come to know” in this verse is gnóntes from ginōskō. In English, “knew” can sound like a conclusion that arrives on its own; here the knowing follows the command to go and see. The count is discovered through looking, then named, the answer does not yet reveal how far the food will go.
ALSO GROWS
gnōsis: Knowledge or recognition.
γνῶσις
This branch makes the disciples’ answer an act of recognizing what is actually there.
gnōstos: Known or recognizable.
γνωστός
What was not yet counted becomes recognizable through their search.
ἔχετε
échete from echō
GROWS FROM
ἐχ-
To hold, have, or possess.
“have” in this verse is échete from echō. The Greek word carries the sense of holding what is in one’s possession. The question brings that held supply into view before anyone knows its full reach.
ALSO GROWS
katéchō: Hold fast, retain, or keep.
κατέχω
This branch echoes the concrete sense of something being held or kept.
metéchō: Share in or partake of.
μετέχω
This branch opens possession toward participation: what is held can become part of what others share.
THE PATTERN
Provision comes into view when what is present is gathered and given according to need.
And when they measured it with an omer, the one who gathered much had nothing over, and the one who gathered little had no lack. Each one gathered according to his eating.And his attendant said, How shall I place this before a hundred men? He said again, Give to the people, that they may eat. For thus says the LORD, They shall eat, and some shall remain.Now the one who supplies seed to the sower supplies bread for eating, and fills out your sown seed, and makes grow the fruits of your alignment.THE THREAD
There is a lad here, who has five barley loaves, and two small fishes, but what are they among so many?John names a boy as the one who has the same small count the disciples are sent to find. “Hath” here and “have” in Mark come from the same Greek root, ἔχω (echō), hold or possess; John then sets that held supply beside the question of how it can reach so many.
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