Section 14:22–26

Jesus gave his disciples bread and wine with a special meaning

When a Jewish family ate the Passover meal, (Specifically during the third part of the Passover meal (see the discussion of the different parts of the Passover meal in 14:17–21). ) the head of the household broke some bread and offered it to his family. Then he explained how certain foods in the meal reminded them of the time when God delivered their ancestors from slavery.

In this section Jesus broke pieces of bread, gave them to his disciples, and said to them, “This is my body.” When Jesus said this, he gave the Passover bread new meaning. Later on, after the main meal, Jesus took a cup of wine and gave it to his disciples for them to drink from. He said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” When he said this, he gave new meaning to the Passover wine.

Jesus identified the bread and wine with himself. He told his followers to continue to take bread and wine together to remember him and that he died for them (see Luke 22:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:24–26). Christians now have several names for this ritual: “The Lord’s Supper,” “Communion,” and “the Eucharist.” Almost all Christian churches observe this ritual.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

The Lord’s Supper
-or-
Jesus gives new meaning to the bread and wine
-or-
Jesus instituted the Eucharist/Communion
-or-
Jesus’ last meal with his disciples

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 26:26–30; Luke 22:14–20, 39; and 1 Corinthians 11:23–25.

Paragraph 14:22–26

14:22a

While they were eating: The event in 14:22b began while Jesus and his disciples were still eating the Passover meal.

14:22b–c

Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying: These verse parts have four verbs that describe four things that Jesus did. Connect these actions in a natural way in your language.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

Jesus took a loaf of bread and asked God’s blessing on it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying… (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
-or-
…he took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it, gave it to them, and said… (NET Bible)
-or-
[As they ate,] he took bread. He gave thanks for it. Then he broke it. He gave it to his disciples. He said…

See how you translated similar ideas in 6:41c and 8:6b–c. You may be able to use some of the same expressions here.

took bread: The phrase took bread indicates here that Jesus picked up a piece of bread from the table. In some languages some of the implied information may need to be made explicit. For example:

took some bread in his hands (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
picked up some bread from the table (Translator’s Reference Translation)

bread: The bread that the Jews ate at Passover was flat and round. It was made without yeast.

spoke a blessing: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as spoke a blessing is literally “having blessed.” In this context it means that Jesus praised God and thanked him for the bread that he provided for them. (It may refer to a traditional Hebrew blessing that the Jews used to praise God for bread. This blessing can be translated as, “Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.”)

Here are some other ways to translate spoke a blessing:

having said the blessing (Revised English Bible)
-or-
thanked God for it (New Century Version)
-or-
blessed God because of the bread
-or-
said a prayer, praising God for the bread

The same Greek word occurs in 6:41. See bless, Meaning 4, in the Glossary.

In some languages it may be more natural to use a direct quote to express the meaning of spoke a blessing. For example:

He said to God, “We bless you, O God”

broke it: In this context the verb broke indicates that Jesus tore or divided the flat bread into two or more pieces with his hands.

In some languages, there is one verb that includes both “break off a piece of food” and “give it (to another to eat.)” If this is true in your language, it may be appropriate to use it here. See how you translated “broke” in 6:41c and 8:6c.

14:22c

gave it to the disciples: After Jesus broke the bread, he distributed it among the disciples. (Jesus may have broken the bread in half and given the two halves to two disciples, who then broke them in pieces for the other disciples. Or, he may have given one small piece to each disciple.)

saying: In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit that Jesus was speaking to the disciples. It may also be more natural to start a new sentence here. For example:

He said to them

14:22d

Take it: In this context the phrase Take it means “Take this bread” or “Take some of this bread.” It implies that they should also eat it. In some languages it may be necessary to make that explicit. For example:

Take some of this bread and eat it.

this is My body: The word this refers to the bread that Jesus had given his disciples. Churches have different views about exactly what the words this is my body imply. Because of this, it is probably best to translate literally.

body: The word body here refers to Jesus’ living body. Be careful not to use a word that means corpse. In some languages the closest equivalent of body may be an expression such as “flesh/meat and bones” or a word such as “myself.” (These suggestions come from the UBS Handbook (page 439), which also advocates a literal translation of the phrase “This is my body.” They reflect the realities of languages in which there is no appropriate word for “body.” )

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