← Interactives
Luke 22:19b–20

Manuscript viewer

The Reformed exegete should not bluff with the manuscripts. Click through 𝔓⁷⁵, ℵ, B, D, and the modern critical text NA28 to see what each witness actually reads at the institution of the cup of the new covenant.

early 3rd century

𝔓⁷⁵ (Papyrus Bodmer XIV–XV)

Reads the longer text
Greek (Luke 22:19–20)
καὶ λαβὼν ἄρτον εὐχαριστήσας ἔκλασεν καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς λέγων· Τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ σῶμά μου τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν διδόμενον· τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν. καὶ τὸ ποτήριον ὡσαύτως μετὰ τὸ δειπνῆσαι λέγων· Τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη ἐν τῷ αἵματί μου, τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐκχυννόμενον.
English

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying: 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying: 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.'

Note

The earliest Lukan papyrus. Reads the longer text without question. Decisive witness for the originality of vv. 19b–20.

View digital manuscript repository ↗
Pedagogical conclusion

The longer text of Luke 22:19b–20 is supported by 𝔓⁷⁵, ℵ, B — the three earliest and most weighty witnesses — together with the entire Old Latin and Vulgate, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Sahidic Coptic. The shorter reading is supported by D and a small handful of Old Latin witnesses. Metzger's Textual Commentary retires the Western-non-interpolation theory; NA28 prints the longer reading without brackets. The argument for the originality of "this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you" is decisive in modern critical scholarship.

On the separate question of the Camerarius conjecture (1572) that John 19:29 should read ὑσσῷ ("javelin") instead of ὑσσώπῳ ("hyssop"): no Greek manuscript of any age supports this reading. The conjecture is universally rejected.

Search Four Cups

Search chapters, interactives, study materials, and citations