John 6:9
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
There is a lad here, which has five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
American King James Version (AKJV)
There is a lad here, which has five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
American Standard Version (ASV)
There is a lad here, who hath five barley loaves, and two fishes: but what are these among so many?
Basic English Translation (BBE)
There is a boy here with five barley cakes and two fishes: but what is that among such a number?
Webster's Revision
There is a lad here, who hath five barley-loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
World English Bible
"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many?"
English Revised Version (ERV)
There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two fishes: but what are these among so many?
Clarke's John 6:9 Bible Commentary
There is a lad here - Παιδαριον, a little boy, or servant, probably one who carried the apostles' provisions, or who came on purpose to sell his bread and fish.
Five barley loaves - Barley scarcely bore one-third of the value of wheat in the east: see Revelation 6:6. That it was a very mean fare appears from Ezekiel 13:19, where the false prophetesses are said to pollute the name of God for handfuls of barley, i.e. for the meanest reward. And Plutarch, in Apoph. p. 174, speaking concerning the flight of Artaxerxes Mnemon, says he was reduced to such distress as to be obliged to eat barley bread. See Kypke. From this and other circumstances we may plainly perceive that the self-denying doctrine preached by Christ and his apostles was fully exemplified in their own manner of living.
Two small fishes - Δυο οψαρια. The word of οψαριον signifies whatever is eaten with bread, to perfect the meal, or to make it easy of deglutition, or to help the digestion. There is no word in the English language for it, which is a great defect. The inhabitants of Scotland, and of the north and north-west of Ireland, use the word kytshen, by which they express what ever is eaten with bread or potatoes, as flesh, fish, butter, milk, eggs, etc., no satisfactory etymology of which word I am able to offer. In the parallel places in the other three evangelists, instead of οψαρια, ιχθυας is used; so that the word evidently means fish in the text of St. John: see on John 21:5 (note).