en_tn/jhn/06/10.md

sit down

"lie down"

Now there was much 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/jit/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.