Matthew 14:23 is a verse in the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. Content In the original Greek according to Westcott-Hort for this verse is: Καὶ ἀπολύσας τοὺς ὄχλους, ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος κατ᾿ ἰδίαν προσεύξασθαι· ὀψίας δὲ γενομένης, μόνος ἦν ἐκεῖ. In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads: And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. The New International Version translates the passage as: After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, Analysis There are two Hebrew words for evening, the first appears to apply to the previous multiplication of the loaves, just prior, which is early evening, while this appears to be nighttime. The example of Jesus encourages Christians also to take time apart and pray alone. Commentary from the Church Fathers Chrysostom: "It should be observed, that when the Lord works a great miracle, He sends the multitudes away, teaching us thereby never to pursue the praise of the multitude, nor to attract them to us. Further, He teaches us that we should not be ever mixed with crowds, nor yet always shunning them; but that both may be done with profit; whence it follows, And when he had sent the multitude away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray; showing us that solitude is good, when we have need to pray to God. For this also He goes into the desert, and there spends the night in prayer, to teach us that for prayer we should seek stillness both in time and place." Jerome: "That He withdraws to pray alone, you should refer not to Him who fed five thousand on five loaves, but to Him who on hearing of the death of John withdrew into the desert; not that we would separate the Lord’s person into two parts, but that His actions are divided between the God and the man." Augustine: " This may seem contrary to that Matthew says, that having sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain that He might pray alone; and John again says, that it was on a mountain that He fed this same multitude. But since John himself says further, that after