AUGUST 4, 2025 PORTALS OF PRAYER READINGS

 

John 6:1-14

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

6 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. ² And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. ³ Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. ⁵ Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” ⁶ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. ⁷ Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii^[a] worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” ⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, ⁹ “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. ¹⁴ When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

Footnotes

1. John 6:7 A denarius was a day's wage for a laborer

Psalm 74:9-17

⁹ We do not see our signs;
    there is no longer any prophet,
    and there is none among us who knows how long.
¹⁰ How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
    Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
¹¹ Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
    Take it from the fold of your garment^[a] and destroy them!

¹² Yet God my King is from of old,
    working salvation in the midst of the earth.
¹³ You divided the sea by your might;
    you broke the heads of the sea monsters^[b] on the waters.
¹⁴ You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
    you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
¹⁵ You split open springs and brooks;
    you dried up ever-flowing streams.
¹⁶ Yours is the day, yours also the night;
    you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
¹⁷ You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
    you have made summer and winter.

Footnotes

1. Psalm 74:11 Hebrew from your bosom
2. Psalm 74:13 Or the great sea creatures

ESV® - The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Source for Bible text - www.biblegateway.com