Jabir reported, "When the trench was being dug, I noticed the Prophet ﷺ suffering from severe hunger. So I turned back to my wife and asked her, 'Do you have anything? I have just seen the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in severe hunger.'She brought out a leather bag containing a saa of barley. We had a small domesticated lamb, so I slaughtered it while she ground the barley. We finished our tasks together, and I cut up the meat and put it into her cooking pot. Then I headed off to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.My wife said, 'Do not embarrass me before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and those with him.'So I came to him and whispered to him, 'Messenger of Allah, we have slaughtered a small lamb of ours and ground a saa of barley we had, so come, you and a few people with you.'But the Prophet ﷺ called out loudly, 'People of the trench, Jabir has prepared a feast, so come along!'The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, 'Do not take your pot off the fire, and do not bake your dough until I arrive.'So I went home, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came leading the people. I went in to my wife, who said, 'Shame on you, shame on you!'I said, 'I did exactly what you told me to do.'She brought out the dough to him, and he spat into it and invoked blessing on it. Then he went to our pot and spat into it and invoked blessing on it. He then said, 'Call a baker to bake bread with me, and ladle out from your pot, but do not take it off the fire.'They were a thousand men. I swear by Allah, they all ate until they left it and turned away, while our pot was still bubbling as it had been, and our dough was still being baked as it was."
لما حفر الخندق رأيت بالنبي ﷺ خمصا شديدا، فانكفأت إلى امرأتي، فقلت: هل عندك شيء؟ فإني رأيت برسول الله ﷺ خمصا شديدا، فأخرجت إلي جرابا فيه صاع من شعير، ولنا بهيمة داجن فذبحتها، وطحنت الشعير، ففرغت إلى فراغي، وقطعتها في برمتها، ثم وليت إلى رسول الله ﷺ فقالت: لا تفضحني برسول الله ﷺ وبمن معه، فجئته فساررته، فقلت: يا رسول الله ذبحنا بهيمة لنا وطحنا صاعا من شعير كان عندنا، فتعال أنت ونفر معك، فصاح النبي ﷺ فقال: يا أهل الخندق إن جابرا قد صنع سورا، فحي هلا بكم. فقال رسول الله ﷺ: لا تنزلن برمتكم، ولا تخبزن عجينتكم حتى أجيء. فجئت وجاء رسول الله ﷺ يقدم الناس حتى جئت امرأتي فقالت: بك وبك، فقلت: قد فعلت الذي قلت، فأخرجت له عجينا فبصق فيه وبارك، ثم عمد إلى برمتنا فبصق وبارك، ثم قال: ادع خابزة فلتخبز معي، واقدحي من برمتكم ولا تنزلوها. وهم ألف، فأقسم بالله لقد أكلوا حتى تركوه وانحرفوا، إن برمتنا لتغط كما هي، وإن عجيننا ليخبز كما هو.
Bukhari narrated it in the chapter on military expeditions (4102) and Muslim narrated it in the chapter on drinks (2039:141), both through Abu Asim Dahhak bin Makhlad bin Hanzala bin Abu Sufyan, who said, "Saeed bin Mina informed us." He said, "I heard Jabir bin Abdullah say," then he mentioned it.His saying "khamsan" means hunger, and khams refers to the emptiness of the stomach from food. His saying "jiraban" refers to a container in which provisions and the like are kept. His saying "hayya hala bikum" is a word of summons containing urging, meaning "come quickly."Bayhaqi narrated it in Dalail (3/422–423) through Abu Bakr bin Abu Shayba, who said, "Abdul-Rahman bin Muhammad Muharibi narrated to us," from Abdul-Wahid bin Ayman, from his father, from Jabir, with a version longer than this one, in which Jabir's statement appears,"I felt such shyness that only Allah could know it, so I said to my wife, 'May your mother be bereft of you, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and all his companions have come to you.' She said, 'Did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ask you about the food?' I said, 'Yes.' She said, 'Allah and His Messenger know best, I told him what you had.' Some of what I had been feeling then left me. I said, 'You have spoken the truth.'"At the end of it he said, "He informed me that they numbered eight hundred or three hundred."His saying "and they were a thousand" is the correct version, because it contains additional information, and it cannot be explained by supposing the incident occurred more than once, since the story happened only one time.