And he said to them, give ye them to eat,.... Signifying, that it was not his will to dismiss people, and send them scattering abroad into the adjacent cities, towns, or houses; and that there was no need of it, but that his will was, that they should be supplied with provisions out of their stock: and they said, we have no more than five loaves and two fishes; and these loaves were barley loaves, and the fishes small, Joh 6:9 except we should go and buy meat for all this people; which would at least cost them two hundred pence; and which they represent as impossible to be done, either through want of so much money, or the scarcity of provision in those parts; where, had they money, it would be difficult, at least to get such a quantity of provisions at once, which so great a number of persons required.