What Does Luke 22:8 Mean?
And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare the Passover for us, so that we may eat.
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 sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.THE KEY
The Greek root beneath “sent” can also mean to set in order or equip, so the dispatch already leans toward a table made ready for shared eating.
THE MEANING
The verse places the reader in a movement from being sent to making ready, with the work opening toward shared nourishment. “That we may eat” names a table held in common, where preparation serves receiving together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that preparation is an end in itself: here, readiness points beyond the task toward shared nourishment.
THE ROOT
ἀπέστειλεν
apésteilen
GROWS FROM
στελλ- / στειλ-
The Greek stem στέλλω (stéllō) means to send or dispatch and can also mean to set in order or equip; its aorist stem appears as στειλ-.
ἀπέστειλεν (apésteilen, sent) is a form of ἀποστέλλω (apostéllō, send out), built from ἀπό (apó, away) and στέλλω (stéllō, send, set in order, equip). English separates “sent” from “prepare,” while this Greek family lets dispatch carry a shade of equipping for what follows. The Hebrew שָׁלַח (shalach, send or release) echoes the wider scriptural motion of letting forth as a semantic parallel.
ALSO GROWS
stéllō: To send forth or dispatch; also to arrange or equip.
στέλλω
This is the lexical base within ἀποστέλλω, giving the sending a shade of setting someone in motion for the work ahead.
apóstolos: One sent; a messenger.
ἀπόστολος
This word from the same Greek family names a person through the sending, echoing Peter and John’s task.
ἑτοιμάσατε
hetoimásate
GROWS FROM
ἑτοιμ-
The Greek stem ἑτοιμ- (hetoim-) means ready or fit.
“prepare” in this verse is hetoimásate. The word family begins with ἕτοιμος (hétoimos, ready): ἑτοιμάζω (hetoimázō) makes ready what is to be received. The preparation here serves the meal’s shared arrival, rather than standing as an end in itself.
ALSO GROWS
hétoimos: Ready; prepared.
ἕτοιμος
This adjective shares the ἑτοιμ- stem and shows the state toward which the act of preparing moves.
hetoimasía: Readiness; preparation.
ἑτοιμασία
This related noun keeps the same stem and makes preparation itself a form of readiness.
THE PATTERN
Preparation reaches its meaning when food becomes a table others can share.
And he took curds and milk, and the son of the herd which he had made, and set it before them, and stood beside them under the tree, and they ate.You lay out a table before my face, in full view of those who press me. You make my head rich with oil; my cup is soaked full.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
After these things the Lord showed forth seventy others also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, where he himself was about to come.Luke uses the same Greek verb, ἀποστέλλω (apostéllō, send out), when Jesus sends others ahead of himself. Here the sending opens toward a shared meal; there it opens a way for his arrival.
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