Mark 6:44

Now ¹  there were five thousand men ²  who ate the bread. ³ 

The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

Five thousand men had eaten from those five loaves!

More than five thousand were at the supper.

And those who took of the bread were five thousand men.

Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.

Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men.

Now ¹  there were five thousand men ²  who ate the bread. ³ 

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate a somewhat parenthetical remark by the author.

² tn The Greek word here is ἀνήρ, meaning “adult male” (BDAG 79 s.v. 1). According to Matt 14:21, Jesus fed not only five thousand men, but also an unspecified number of women and children.

³ tc Many good mss (Ì⁴⁵ א D W Θ Ë^1,13 28 565 700 2542 lat sa) lack τοὺς ἄρτους (tous artous, lit. “the loaves” [here translated “the bread”]). On the other hand, just as weighty mss (A B L 33 2427 Ï) have the words. Although a decision is not easy, the most satisfactory explanation seems to be that scribes were more prone to delete than to add the words here. They may have been puzzled as to why “the bread” should be mentioned without a corresponding mention of “fish.” Since neither Matt 14:21 or Luke 9:17 explicitly mention the bread, a desire for harmonization may have motivated the copyists as well. On the other hand, D and W are prone to longer, explanatory readings. Since they both lack the words here, it is likely that their archetypes also lacked the words. But given Mark’s pleonastic style, the good witnesses with “the bread,” and a reasonable explanation for the omission, “the bread” is most likely part of the original text of Mark.