Luke 22:20--What is being poured out?

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dougknighton
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Luke 22:20--What is being poured out?

Post by dougknighton »

In Luke 22:20 Jesus comments on the cup of wine he shows the disciples: τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη ἐν τῷ αἵματί μου τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐκχυννόμενον.
Since both ποτήριον and αἷμα are neuter nouns, the closing participial phrase could be attributed to either one. English translations vary, The ESV, NASB, and NET all attribute it to ποτήριον, (this cup that is poured out for you), while the NIV and the KJV attribute it to αἷμα (my blood, which is poured out for you).
Two questions:
1) Does the phrase’s being immediately after ἐν τῷ αἵματί μου determine its association?
2) Does the phrase’s being constructed with a present participle make a difference?

Doug Knighton
timothy_p_mcmahon
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Re: Luke 22:20--What is being poured out?

Post by timothy_p_mcmahon »

ἐκχυννόμενον is accusative to modify ποτηριον. To modify αιματι it would have to be dative.
Stephen Carlson
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Re: Luke 22:20--What is being poured out?

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Neither (1) nor (2) appear relevant. What's relevant is the case, and τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐκχυννόμενον agrees with τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον, not with τῷ αἵματί μου.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
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Barry Hofstetter
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Re: Luke 22:20--What is being poured out?

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

ἐκχυννόμενον. Pres pass ptc neut nom sg ἐκχέω (attributive, with τὸ, modifying ποτήριον). After noting the neat parallel that τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐκχυννόμενον forms with τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν διδόμενον in verse 19, Nolland (3:1054) argues that “while some have tried to make grammatical sense of this situation, it is perhaps best to see here instead the ungrammatical product of the meeting of liturgical innovation with liturgical conservatism and delight in tight formal parallelism. Despite the grammar, it must be the blood and not the cup that is poured out.” Our translation follows the grammar. It appears that what has happened is that Luke has thought of “this cup” as “this cup of my blood.”
Culy, M. M., Parsons, M. C., & Stigall, J. J. (2010). Luke: A Handbook on the Greek Text (pp. 671–672). Waco, TX: Baylor University Press.

This just by way of noting that the translators who seem to make the participle refer to blood do have a substantive reason for doing so. Reading a lot of Homer and Vergil lately, I immediately thought of it in terms of a transferred epithet, a sort of literary constructio ad sensum, since obviously you can't pour a cup in that sense, even though the participle is literally in agreement with ποτήριον. Culy & Stigall see it, it seems, almost like a hendiadys...
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
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Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Stephen Carlson
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Re: Luke 22:20--What is being poured out?

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Yeah, there is a container-contained metonymy with the cup-wine and a wine-blood metaphor in the verse. Some translators resolve these conceptual links; others don't. Because of this, I would not see the NIV as (necessarily) understanding the grammar any differently, only that resolving these conceptual links was more consistent with their translation philosophy.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
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