And again he began to teach by the seaside. This return to the seaside is mentioned by St. Mark only. From this time our Lord's teaching began to be more public. The room and the little courtyard no longer sufficed for the multitudes that came to him.
The Authorized Version says that "a great multitude was gathered unto him." The Greek adjective, according to the most approved reading, is πλεῖστος the superlative of πολὺς, and should be rendered "a very great" multitude.
They bad probably been waiting for him in the neighborhood of Capernaum. He entered into a boat—probably the boat mentioned at Mark 3:9—and sat in the sea, i.e. in the boat afloat on the water, so as to be relieved of the pressure of the vast multitude ( πλεῖστος ὄχλος) gathered on the shore.