Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 8:3

"and if I send them away fasting to their home, they will faint on the way; and some of them are come from far." — Mark 8:3 (ASV)

Remaining in the Decapolis, Jesus taught a large crowd gathered there. After three days Jesus (not the disciples, as in 6:35–36) recognized the physical needs of the crowds. He was moved with compassion for them because they had not had anything to eat for three days, and he immediately dismissed the idea that the crowd should be sent away for food for fear they would collapse on the way.