RichTestOrg_en_tn/jhn/06/10.md

sit down

"lie down"

Now there was a lot of grass in the place

John briefly stops telling about the events in the story in order to give background information about the place where this event happens. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/writing-background)

So the men sat down, about five thousand in number

While the crowd probably included women and children (John 6:4-5), here John is counting only the men.