What Does Luke 22:19 Mean?
And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
The bread given to the people and the body given for them are joined by the same Greek verb: both are one act of giving.
THE MEANING
Here, what sustains you arrives as a gift: bread is broken and given, while the body is described with that same verb as given for you. Remembrance takes shape within the shared bread, keeping this giving in view.
THE ROOT
ἔδωκεν
edōken
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
to give, grant
“gave ... given” in this verse is edōken. “Gave” and “given” are forms of the same Greek verb, δίδωμι (didōmi), meaning “to give.” The bread handed to the people and the body named as given for them share one verbal seed: the scene’s central image is a gift received and distributed.
ALSO GROWS
dosis: a giving; a gift
δόσις
This related noun makes the act of giving itself visible in the bread passed to the people.
doma: a gift; something given
δόμα
This word from the same family echoes the body as something given for others.
ἀνάμνησιν
anamnesin
GROWS FROM
μιμνῄσκω
mimnēskō
to remember, recall
ἀνάμνησις (anamnesis), “remembrance,” is related to μιμνῄσκω (mimnēskō), “to remember.” The verse places this recall within the shared bread, keeping remembrance attached to the act of giving.
ALSO GROWS
mnēmē: memory; remembrance
μνήμη
This related word shows the shared root’s connection to what is held in memory.
anamimnēskō: to remind; recall
ἀναμιμνῄσκω
This verb makes explicit the movement of bringing something back to mind.
THE PATTERN
Life-giving bread appears as provision received and becomes nourishment in shared life.
And when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, Manna, what is it? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.And wine that gladdens the heart of a frail one, and oil to make his face shine, and bread that holds up the heart of a frail one.And they, holding fast day by day with one passion in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, took their food with gladness and singleness of heart.THE THREAD
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he shall live for the ages, and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.John uses δίδωμι (didōmi, “to give”) for the bread he gives and the flesh he gives. Luke presents bread given to the gathered people alongside the body given for them; John makes that correspondence explicit.
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