Passage

Luke 22.20

"And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, 'This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.'" (Luke 22:20, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"18. for I say unto you, I shall not drink from henceforth of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. 19. And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me."

"20. And the cup in like manner after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, even that which is poured out for you."

"21. But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. 22. For the Son of man indeed goeth, as it hath been determined: but woe unto that man through whom he is betrayed!" (Luke 22:18-22, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"18. for I tell you, I will not drink at all again from the fruit of the vine, until God's Kingdom comes." 19. He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.""

"20. Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you."

"21. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. 22. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it has been determined, but woe to that man through whom he is betrayed!"" (Luke 22:18-22, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"18. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. 19. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me."

"20. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you."

"21. But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. 22. And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!" (Luke 22:18-22, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"18. for I say to you that I may not drink of the produce of the vine till the reign of God may come.' 19. And having taken bread, having given thanks, he brake and gave to them, saying, 'This is my body, that for you is being given, this do ye, to remembrance of me.'"

"20. In like manner, also, the cup after the supping, saying, 'This cup [is] the new covenant in my blood, that for you is being poured forth."

"21. 'But, lo, the hand of him delivering me up [is] with me on the table, 22. and indeed the Son of Man doth go according to what hath been determined; but woe to that man through whom he is being delivered up.'" (Luke 22:18-22, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper with the Twelve
Audience: the twelve apostles at the Passover meal in the upper room
Location: Jerusalem, the upper room (Lk 22:11-13), during Passover week
Time period: Thursday evening of Passion Week, c. AD 30 (or AD 33 on the later chronology); hours before Jesus's arrest in Gethsemane

Synthesis

Luke 22:20 is the cup-saying half of the Lord's Supper institution, paired with the bread-saying of 22:19. In one sentence Jesus identifies his shed blood as the inaugurating sacrifice of the new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah 31.31-34. The Passover frame (he is observing the meal that commemorates the Mosaic exodus) makes the claim sharper: as the blood of the first Passover lamb instituted the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, the blood of Jesus inaugurates the deliverance of his people into the new covenant. The verse is the foundational text for both Christian sacramental theology and the atonement doctrines that interpret what the cross accomplishes.

Theological reading

The Jeremiah 31:31-34 echo is the load-bearing claim. Jeremiah 31.31-34 is the locus classicus for the "new covenant" promise: God will write his law on his people's hearts, forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. Jesus's "this cup is the new covenant in My blood" claims that the Jeremianic promise is being inaugurated through his own death. The Mosaic covenant was sealed with the blood of bulls sprinkled on the people (Exodus 24:8); Jesus says the new covenant is sealed in his own blood. See New Covenant for the systematic treatment and Mosaic Law / Christians Not Under Mosaic Law for the covenantal-transition implications.

"Poured out for you" is atonement language. The Greek ekchunnomenon (poured out / shed) is sacrificial vocabulary, paralleling Septuagint usage for the pouring of sacrificial blood (e.g., Leviticus 4). When Jesus identifies his blood as both new-covenant-inaugurating and "poured out for you," the cup-saying is simultaneously covenantal and sacrificial. The Matthean parallel (Matthew 26.28) makes the substitutionary dimension explicit: "poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." See Atonement Theory Spread for the systematic-theology framing of what is being claimed here, and Mark 14.24 / 1 Corinthians 11.25 for the synoptic-and-Pauline parallels.

The Passover frame is essential. The meal Jesus is repurposing is the Passover, the commemoration of Israel's exodus deliverance through the blood of the lamb on the doorposts. Luke specifies the timing: "When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, 'I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer'" (22:14-15). The bread-and-cup pattern follows the Passover liturgy. Jesus identifies himself as the Passover-fulfillment whose blood instantiates a deliverance greater than the exodus, and inaugurates a covenant greater than Sinai.

The textual question (Luke 22:19b-20). Some early Western manuscripts (D, a, d, ff², i, l) omit the second half of verse 19 and all of verse 20, producing a "shorter Lukan text" that lacks the cup-saying. The majority of textual critics treat the longer reading (preserved in P75, Aleph, B, and the rest of the manuscript tradition) as original, with the shorter Western text explained as a scribal omission, possibly to resolve the puzzling "two cups" of Luke (22:17 and 22:20). The cup-saying is also independently attested in Matthew 26.28, Mark 14.24, and 1 Corinthians 11.25, so even on the minority Western reading the institution is not in doubt; only its Lukan witness would be.

Key words

G1242 - diatheke, diatheke (covenant / testament). The LXX-standard rendering of Hebrew berith (covenant); used here for the "new covenant."
H1285 - berith, berith (covenant), the Hebrew-Bible substrate behind diatheke.
H1818 - dam, dam (blood), the Hebrew lexeme behind the sacrificial-blood theology Jesus is invoking.

Theological themes

New-covenant inauguration. Jesus is claiming to fulfill Jeremiah 31:31-34 in his own person and death.
Sacrificial atonement. "Poured out" is sacrificial language; the cup-saying anchors the substitutionary reading of the cross.
Passover-fulfillment. Jesus is the Passover lamb whose blood inaugurates a new exodus.
Lord's Supper institution. The sacramental practice of the Christian church derives its dominical authorization here and in the synoptic and Pauline parallels.
Covenantal transition. The Mosaic dispensation gives way to the new-covenant dispensation; this is the load-bearing text for Christian discontinuity-with-Sinai positions.

Cross-references

Matthew 26.28, the Matthean parallel ("My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins").
Mark 14.24, the Markan parallel.
1 Corinthians 11.25, Paul's independent attestation of the cup-saying ("this cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me").
Jeremiah 31.31-34, the prophetic new-covenant promise Jesus claims to inaugurate.
Jeremiah 31.31, the verse-specific anchor.
Jeremiah 31.31-32, the contrast with the broken Mosaic covenant.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.