Mark 6:44

Mark 6:44
(KJV) And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.
(1611 KJV) And they that did eate of the loaues, were about fiue thousand men.
(1587 Geneva Bible) And they that had eaten, were about fiue thousand men.
(1526 Tyndale) And they that ate were about fyve thousand men.

Counterfeit Versions
(1881 RV) And they that ate the loaves were five thousand men.
(1901 ASV) And they that ate the loaves were five thousand men.
(AMP) And those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men.
(CEV) There were five thousand men who ate the food.

(CSB) Now those who had eaten the loaves were five thousand men.

(1899 Douay-Rheims American Ed.) And they that did eat, were five thousand men.
(ESV) And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
(GNB) The number of men who were fed was five thousand.
(HCSB) Now those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men.
(JB PHILLIPS) There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.
(NASV) There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.
(NIRV) The number of men who had eaten was 5,000.
(NIV) The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.
(NLV) About five thousand men ate the bread.
(NLT) A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed from those loaves!
(RSV) And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
(VOICE) That day, 5,000 men ate their fill of the bread when Jesus fed the hungry crowd.
(NAB-Roman Catholic) Those who ate [of the loaves] were five thousand men.
(NWT-Jehovah’s Witnesses) Furthermore, those who ate of the loaves were five thousand men.

Textus Receptus - Traditional Text
και ησαν οι φαγοντες τους αρτους ωσει πεντακισχιλιοι ανδρες

Hort-Westcott - Critical Text
και ησαν οι φαγοντες τους αρτους πεντακισχιλιοι ανδρες

Corrupted Manuscripts
This verse is corrupted in the following manuscripts:
Byzantine Text (450-1450 A.D.)
A 02 - Alexandrinus - Fifth century
B 03 - Vaticanus - Fourth century
D 05 - Bezae Cantabrigiensis - Fifth century
K 017 - Ninth century
L 019 - Seventh century
Gamma 036 - Ninth or Tenth century
Delta 037 - Ninth century

Manuscripts which agree with the Textus Receptus for this verse:
Stephanus (1550 A.D.)
Aleph 01 - Sinaiticus - Nineteenth Century Counterfeit
Theta 038 - Ninth century
892 - (Minuscule) - Ninth century

Published Critical Greek Texts with Corruptions
Omit “about”
Greisbach, Johann - 1805
Lachmann, Karl - 1842
Tischendorf, Constantine - 1869
Tregelles, Samuel - 1857
Alford, Henry - 1849 revised in 1871
Wordsworth, Christopher - 1856 revised in 1870
Westcott and Hort - 1881
Weiss, Bernhard - 1894
Nestle - 1927 as revised in seventeenth edition in 1941
Nestle-Aland - 1979 - Twenty Sixth Edition
Nestle-Aland - 1993 - Twenty Seventh Edition
United Bible Societies - 1983 - Fourth Edition
Von Soden, Freiherr - 1902
Hodges and Farstad - Majority Text 1982 as corrected in 1985

Affected Teaching
The King James Bible states that “about” 5,000 men had eaten of the five loaves and two fishes. The modern versions state that 5,000 is a specific number. In the parallel account in Matthew 14, in verse 21 we read that the modern versions retain “about.” (Mat 14:21 KJV) And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. (Matthew 14:21 ESV) And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

In the Luke account in Luke 9, the modern versions also retain “about.” (Luke 9:14 KJV) For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company. (Luke 9:14 ESV) For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”

So once again the modern versions cause confusion by using a specific number in the Mark account and an approximate number in Luke and Matthew.

Back