John 6:25–71 – Eat my flesh and drink my blood

  1. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, “Teacher, when did you get here?” 26Jesus replied, “I tell you the solemn truth, you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted. 27Do not work for the food that disappears, but for the food that remains to eternal life—the food which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.”
  2. So then they said to him, “What must we do to accomplish the deeds God requires?” 29Jesus replied, “This is the deed God requires—to believe in the one whom he sent.” 30So they said to him, “Then what miraculous sign will you perform, so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
  3. Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the solemn truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time!”
  1. Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life.
The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.
36–46 Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus began complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,”
  1. I tell you the solemn truth, the one who believes has eternal life.
  2. I am the bread of life.
  3. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
  4. This is the bread that has come down from heaven,
so that a person may eat from it and not die.
  1. I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever.
The bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world.”
  1. Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus began to argue with one another,
    “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
  2. Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth,
    unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.
  3. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,
    and I will raise him up on the last day.
  4. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
  5. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him.
  6. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father,
so the person who eats me will live because of me.
  1. This is the bread that came down from heaven;
it is not like the bread your ancestors ate, but then later died.
The one who eats this bread will live forever.”
  1. Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 60Then many of his disciples, when they heard these things, said, “This is a difficult saying! Who can understand it?” 61When Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining about this, he said to them, “Does this cause you to be offended? 62Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before?
  2. After this many of his disciples quit following him and did not accompany him any longer.

Translation by Andrew Fountain