# Matthew 26.28 > for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:28, NASB95) Jesus's word over the cup at the Last Supper, the single verse that institutes the New Testament's central rite, anchors the doctrine of the atonement to a specific OT covenant pattern, and gives Christian sacramental theology its most-contested phrasing. Three words do the work: "covenant" (*diathēkē*), "poured out for many" (echoing [Isaiah 53.12](/codex/isaiah-53-12/)), and "for forgiveness of sins" (*eis aphesin hamartiōn*). **Book:** [Matthew](/codex/matthew-the-apostle/) · NASB95 ## Immediate context (4 PD translations) **ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/)) > 26. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 27. And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; > > **28. for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins.** > > 29. But I say unto you, I shall not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. 30. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out unto the mount of Olives. (Matthew 26:26-30, ASV) **WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/)) > 26. As they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks for it, and broke it. He gave to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27. He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, “All of you drink it, > > **28. for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins.** > > 29. But I tell you that I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s Kingdom.” 30. When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Matthew 26:26-30, WEB) **KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/)) > 26. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. blessed it: many Greek copies have gave thanks 27. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; > > **28. For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.** > > 29. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. 30. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. hymn: or, psalm (Matthew 26:26-30, KJV) **YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/)) > 26. And while they were eating, Jesus having taken the bread, and having blessed, did brake, and was giving to the disciples, and said, 'Take, eat, this is my body;' 27. and having taken the cup, and having given thanks, he gave to them, saying, 'Drink ye of it, all; > > **28. for this is my blood of the new covenant, that for many is being poured out, to remission of sins;** > > 29. and I say to you, that I may not drink henceforth on this produce of the vine, till that day when I may drink it with you new in the reign of my Father.' 30. And having sung a hymn, they went forth to the mount of the Olives; (Matthew 26:26-30, YLT) ## Setting - **Speaker:** Jesus, hosting the Passover meal with the Twelve. - **Audience:** the disciples, on the night before the crucifixion; through them, the historic church. - **Location:** the Upper Room in Jerusalem, Thursday evening of Passion Week. - **Time period:** events Passover c. AD 30/33; Matthean composition c. AD 60-80, traditional Antioch. ## Theological reading Three exegetical points carry the weight of this verse, each anchored in the Greek. **"Blood of the covenant", *to haima mou tēs diathēkēs*.** The phrase is a direct verbal echo of [Exodus 24.8](/codex/exodus-24-8/), where Moses sprinkles the people with sacrificial blood and says, "Behold the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you." Jesus appropriates the Sinai covenant-inauguration formula and reapplies it to himself. The Last Supper is not a generic farewell meal but a covenant-ratification ceremony in which Jesus is both the priest and the sacrificial victim. The textual variant some translations render as "new covenant" (WEB, KJV, YLT all have "new"; ASV, NASB95, and the earliest manuscripts read simply "covenant") harmonizes Matthew with Luke 22:20 and 1 Cor 11:25, both of which explicitly say "new covenant" (cf. [Luke 22.20](/codex/luke-22-20/), [1 Corinthians 11.25](/codex/1-corinthians-11-25/)). Whether the word "new" is original or assimilated, the substance is the same: this is the inaugurating moment of the covenant promised in [Jeremiah 31.31-34](/codex/jeremiah-31-31-34/), "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel... I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." **"Poured out for many", *peri pollōn ekchynnomenon*.** The verb *ekchynnō* is sacrificial language for the libation-pouring of blood at the altar; the participle in the present tense pictures the pouring as ongoing, beginning here and consummated on the cross hours later. The phrase "for many" deliberately echoes [Isaiah 53.12](/codex/isaiah-53-12/), "He poured out Himself to death... yet He Himself bore the sin of many." The Servant Song of Isaiah 53, the OT's clearest substitutionary-atonement passage, supplies the interpretive frame Jesus invokes. He is dying *peri* (concerning, on behalf of) the many. The word "many" here is a Hebraism for "the great multitude," not a limitation, it does not narrow the scope of the atonement to a numerically restricted group but contrasts the *one* who dies with the *many* who benefit. **"For forgiveness of sins", *eis aphesin hamartiōn*.** The preposition *eis* with the accusative names the purpose-result: the blood is poured out *toward, for the purpose of, resulting in* the forgiveness of sins. Matthew makes the atoning purpose of Jesus's death explicit in a way the other Synoptic accounts do not (Mark and Luke have "poured out for many" but only Matthew adds "*eis aphesin hamartiōn*"). The phrase deliberately recalls John the Baptist's "baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins" (cf. [Mark 1.4](/codex/mark-1-4/), same Greek phrase), but where John's baptism only signaled repentance, Jesus's blood actually effects the forgiveness. The cumulative theology: Jesus is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, dying a substitutionary death, on the model of the Sinai covenant inauguration, to inaugurate the new covenant promised by Jeremiah, with the *effect* of actually forgiving sins. The verse is one of the strongest single-verse loci for [Penal Substitutionary Atonement](/codex/penal-substitutionary-atonement/) in the Synoptics. ## Eucharistic theology The verse is the single most-contested verse in Christian sacramental theology. The four major historic positions: 1. **Transubstantiation** (Roman Catholic): the substance of bread and wine is converted into the substance of Christ's body and blood while the accidents (appearance) remain. Anchored in "this *is* my blood" as ontological identity. 2. **Sacramental Union / Consubstantiation** (Lutheran): Christ is bodily present "in, with, and under" the bread and wine, without conversion of substance. 3. **Spiritual / Pneumatic Presence** (Reformed, Calvin): Christ is genuinely present and received by faith through the work of the Holy Spirit, but the elements remain bread and wine. 4. **Memorial / Symbolic** (Zwinglian, much of Baptist / evangelical practice): the elements are signs that memorialize Christ's death; the "is" is figurative ("this represents my blood"). Each position adduces v. 28 in its support; the verse alone does not settle the question, and the wider Christian tradition has read it through different theological grammars for two millennia. Matthew himself does not adjudicate; he reports the words. ## Apologetic deployment The verse is rarely on the front line of apologetic debate, but it functions in two important ways: 1. **Internal coherence of OT-NT fulfillment.** Atheist objections that "the New Testament invents the atonement" are answered partly by showing how directly v. 28 maps onto [Exodus 24.8](/codex/exodus-24-8/) + [Isaiah 53.12](/codex/isaiah-53-12/) + [Jeremiah 31.31-34](/codex/jeremiah-31-31-34/); the doctrine is not novel, it is the convergence of multiple OT trajectories. 2. **Historicity of the Lord's Supper saying.** Multiple-attestation criterion: the institution narrative appears independently in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 1 Corinthians 11 (the latter explicitly citing tradition received earlier, c. AD 50s, within twenty years of the event). The variations among the four accounts are consistent with independent transmission of a single early tradition, not with later legendary development. ## Key words - [G1242 - diatheke](/codex/g1242-diatheke/), *diathēkē*, "covenant." Distinct from the secular Greek *synthēkē* (a contract between equals); the LXX uses *diathēkē* to render Hebrew *berith*, a sovereign-ratified arrangement. - [G0859 - aphesis](/codex/g0859-aphesis/), *aphesis*, "forgiveness, release, remission." The OT-Day-of-Atonement vocabulary behind the verse. - [H1285 - berith](/codex/h1285-berith/), *berith*, "covenant." The Hebrew background of *diathēkē*; the covenant pattern Jesus invokes. - [H1818 - dam](/codex/h1818-dam/), *dam*, "blood." OT sacrificial-system vocabulary running from Genesis 4 through Leviticus to Isaiah 53 and finding its NT focal point here. ## Theological themes - **New covenant inauguration.** The verse is the moment [Jeremiah 31.31-34](/codex/jeremiah-31-31-34/) is fulfilled. - **Substitutionary atonement.** "Poured out for many" + "for forgiveness of sins" combine Servant-song substitution with effected forgiveness. - **Sacrificial fulfillment.** The Mosaic blood-of-the-covenant + Day-of-Atonement system finds its terminus here. - **Christ as priest and victim.** Jesus distributes his own blood at the table; he is both the offerer and the offering (cf. [Hebrews 9.12](/codex/hebrews-9-12/), [Hebrews 9.14](/codex/hebrews-9-14/)). - **Eucharistic / Lord's Supper institution.** The dominical word that grounds every subsequent Christian celebration of the meal. - **The "many" of Isaiah 53.** Universal-scope language ("for many" = "for the multitude"), not a restrictive limit on the atonement. ## Cross-references - [Exodus 24.8](/codex/exodus-24-8/), "behold the blood of the covenant"; direct verbal source of v. 28. - [Jeremiah 31.31-34](/codex/jeremiah-31-31-34/), the new-covenant promise, fulfilled here. - [Isaiah 53.12](/codex/isaiah-53-12/), "He poured out Himself to death... bore the sin of many"; the Servant Song behind "poured out for many." - [Luke 22.20](/codex/luke-22-20/), Luke's parallel: "the new covenant in My blood." - [Mark 14.24](/codex/mark-14-24/), Mark's parallel: "My blood of the covenant." - [1 Corinthians 11.25](/codex/1-corinthians-11-25/), Paul's transmission of the institution; explicitly "new covenant." - [Hebrews 8.13](/codex/hebrews-8-13/), the old covenant is made obsolete by the new; v. 28 is what makes it obsolete. - [Hebrews 9.12](/codex/hebrews-9-12/), Christ enters the holy place "with His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption." - [Hebrews 9.22](/codex/hebrews-9-22/), "without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness"; v. 28 supplies the once-for-all blood. - [Matthew 1.21](/codex/matthew-1-21/), "He will save His people from their sins"; v. 28 is the means of that salvation. - [Matthew 20.28](/codex/matthew-20-28/), "the Son of Man came... to give His life a ransom for many"; same *anti pollōn* construction. ## See also - [Penal Substitutionary Atonement](/codex/penal-substitutionary-atonement/), the doctrine v. 28 most directly supports. - Atonement / [Atonement Theory Spread](/codex/atonement-theory-spread/), the broader doctrinal hub. - [New Covenant](/codex/jeremiah-31-33/), the covenant initiated here. - Lord's Supper / Eucharist, the rite v. 28 institutes. - [Biblical Forgiveness](/codex/biblical-forgiveness/), the *aphesis* concept. - [Christ vs Other Religion-Founders](/codex/christ-vs-other-religion-founders/), the atoning-death uniqueness argument. - [Christians Not Under Mosaic Law](/codex/christians-not-under-mosaic-law/), the new-covenant supersession implication. - [Mosaic Law](/codex/mosaic-law/), the covenant being superseded. ## Quoted in **Arguments and defeaters:** - [Argument from the Addressee of Gratitude](/codex/argument-from-the-addressee-of-gratitude/), via [Matthew 26.26-28](/codex/matthew-26-26-28/) - [Christians Not Under Mosaic Law](/codex/christians-not-under-mosaic-law/) - [Five Pillars Outside Quran Objection Defeater](/codex/five-pillars-outside-quran-objection-defeater/), via [Matthew 26.26-28](/codex/matthew-26-26-28/) - [Paul Invented Christianity Objection Defeater](/codex/paul-invented-christianity-objection-defeater/) **Concepts:** - [Biblical Forgiveness](/codex/biblical-forgiveness/) - [Christ vs Other Religion-Founders](/codex/christ-vs-other-religion-founders/) - [Jesus Said](/codex/jesus-said/), via [Matthew 26](/codex/matthew-26/) - [Mission Geography (Acts 1-8)](/codex/mission-geography-acts-1-8/) - [Mosaic Law](/codex/mosaic-law/) - [Penal Substitutionary Atonement](/codex/penal-substitutionary-atonement/) **Lexicon:** - [G0859 - aphesis](/codex/g0859-aphesis/) - [G1242 - diatheke](/codex/g1242-diatheke/) - [H1285 - berith](/codex/h1285-berith/) - [H1818 - dam](/codex/h1818-dam/) **Passages:** - [Jeremiah 31.31-34](/codex/jeremiah-31-31-34/) - [Luke 22.20](/codex/luke-22-20/) --- _Scripture quotations taken from the **New American Standard Bible®** (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by **The Lockman Foundation**. Used by permission. All rights reserved. [www.lockman.org](https://www.lockman.org)_ ## 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](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition. - **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English. - **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base. - **[YLT](/codex/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](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.