What Does Mark 14:23 Mean?
And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
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 the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.THE KEY
Greek moves from recognizing favor to passing the cup: the verb for giving thanks is different from the verb for giving it to them.
THE MEANING
The verse places gratitude between receiving and sharing: the cup is taken, thanks are given, and everyone drinks. Its movement speaks now wherever what reaches one pair of hands becomes shared participation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that gratitude can remain a private feeling: here, thanks are followed by the cup passing to everyone.
THE ROOT
εὐχαριστήσας
eucharistēsas
GROWS FROM
εὐχαριστέω (eucharisteō), formed from εὖ (eu, well) and χάρις (charis, favor)
To give thanks; to respond to favor with gratitude.
“given thanks” in this verse is eucharistēsas. The word carries χάρις (charis, favor) inside the act of giving thanks. Gratitude here recognizes what has been received just before the cup is shared.
ALSO GROWS
charis: Favor; thanks where it means thanks.
χάρις
The root names favor as the substance gratitude recognizes.
charisma: Gift; favor given.
χάρισμα
Favor becomes something received and carried outward as a gift.
charizomai: Grant freely; forgive.
χαρίζομαι
This branch shows favor expressed through freely granting something to another.
ἔδωκεν
edōken
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give; to place something into another’s possession.
The KJV repeats “gave” in “given thanks” and “he gave it,” but Greek uses different verbs: eucharisteō for thanking and didōmi for handing over the cup. The change marks a movement from recognizing favor to placing the cup into others’ hands.
ALSO GROWS
dosis: Giving; a gift.
δόσις
The act of giving becomes a named gift, illuminating how the cup moves from one person to many.
dōron: Gift.
δῶρον
This word from the same giving family highlights what is placed into another’s possession.
metadidōmi: Share; impart.
μεταδίδωμι
Giving extends into sharing, matching the cup’s passage to the whole group.
ἔπιον
epion
GROWS FROM
πίνω
pinō
To drink.
“drank” in this verse is epion. The Greek word for cup belongs to the same drinking family as the verb for drinking. The final action makes the sharing bodily and collective: all take in what has been passed to them.
ALSO GROWS
posis: Drinking; a drink.
πόσις
This branch names the act that completes the cup’s passage.
potērion: Cup; drinking vessel.
ποτήριον
The vessel and the act of drinking belong to one word family.
potizō: Give to drink; water.
ποτίζω
The same family can name giving drink as well as receiving it.
THE PATTERN
A received gift becomes shared participation as it passes from one person’s hands into many people’s lives.
And his attendant said, How shall I place this before a hundred men? He said again, Give to the people, that they may eat. For thus says the LORD, They shall eat, and some shall remain.And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he handed them out to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were reclining, and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a sharing in common of the blood of the Anointed One? Is not the bread that we break a sharing in common of the body of the Anointed One?THE THREAD
And he said to them, This is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many.The next sentence names what the cup carries: his blood of the covenant, shed for many. In that light, everyone drinking in verse 23 enacts the reception of a gift offered for many.
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