There is now satisfaction for many (6:42–44). It is not an emergency meal in the steppe, but an abundant banquet whereby everyone is satisfied (6:42). This also appears from the fact that there are leftovers: even much more than what they started from (6:43). It is as with an abundant meal of rich people, where so much is always left over so that there is also a portion for the poor. Yet the number of merrymakers is large: five thousand men, without counting the possibly accompanying women and children (6:44).1
42 And they all ate and were satisfied.