John 6:49
What does John 6:49 mean?
A plain-English look at John 6:49 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What John 6:49 means
He reminds them that their fathers ate manna in the wilderness and died. Manna was real provision from God, but it was temporary, sustaining biological life without conquering death. The point is not to belittle God’s past mercy but to show its provisional nature. The people’s appeal to manna cannot carry their expectations for eternal life. By recalling the mortality of those who ate it, Jesus prepares the way to announce a better bread whose effect is everlasting life. The comparison exposes the inadequacy of looking to former signs instead of to the One to whom all signs point.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Your fathers took the manna in the waste land--and they are dead.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness, and they died;
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Your fathers did eat manna in the desert: and are dead.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and died.
Context
This contrast follows Jesus’s repeated claim to be the bread of life. It answers the crowd’s earlier appeal to manna by showing its limit—those recipients still died. The next sentence will promise that eating the bread from heaven results in not dying, pushing the listeners to consider a kind of nourishment fundamentally different from manna. The crescendo will be Jesus’s claim about giving His flesh for the life of the world.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Numbers 26:65
For Jehovah had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
- John 6:31
Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.
- 1 Corinthians 10:3
and did all eat the same spiritual food;
- Zechariah 1:5
Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
- Hebrews 3:17
And with whom was he displeased forty years? was it not with them that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
- John 6:58
This is the bread which came down out of heaven: not as the fathers ate, and died; he that eateth this bread shall live for ever.
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