Translation commentary on Luke 22:16

Exegesis:

legō gar humin ‘for I tell you,’ cf. on 3.8.

ou mē phagō auto ‘I shall not eat it,’ strongly negative statement, cf. on 1.15. Here it refers not to the present situation but to the future.

heōs hotou plērōthē en tē basileia tou theou ‘until (the time) when it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ The subject of plērōthē is probably to pascha (see commentaries) and this is here best understood in the wider sense of the feast of passover. The underlying idea appears to be that the passover feast and the redemption to which it refers are still imperfect and that they will become perfect en tē basileia tou theou, i.e. when the kingdom of God has come.

Translation:

Until, cf. on 1.20.

It is fulfilled. Some useful descriptive or explanatory renderings are, “it is given its real meaning” (Good News Translation), “the day of the perfect Passover” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), ‘it has reached its mark,’ i.e., it has finished its task (Sranan Tongo), ‘the future day of its-coming-true’ (Javanese), ‘its-being-realized’ (Sundanese). For the verb cf. also on 4.21.

I shall not eat it. This refers to future passovers not to the present one, which Jesus is eating. To make this clear one may have to say, ‘I shall not eat it again,’ ‘after this one I shall not eat any more passovers.’

In the kingdom of God, or, ‘when the time comes that God rules.’

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted