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So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
John 19:30 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished.” He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.
  • KJV When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
  • BSB When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.
  • NASB Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
  • NLT When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Jesus declares 'It is finished,' then yields up his spirit. The work of redemption is fully accomplished.

Overview

'It is finished' (Greek tetelestai) was used for debts paid in full; here it announces that the work of salvation is complete, nothing remains to be added. Jesus does not merely die; he voluntarily gives up his spirit, dying as a willing sacrifice in control to the end (10:18). His finished work is the ground of the believer's assurance, for salvation rests on what Christ has done, not on our efforts.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 26

  • John 17:4I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
  • Phil 2:8And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.
  • Col 2:14–17wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross;
  • John 10:11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
  • Heb 12:2looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
  • Dan 9:24Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
  • Isa 53:10Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days, and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
  • Luke 23:46Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” Having said this, he breathed his last.
  • Heb 9:11–14But Christ having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,
  • Rom 10:4For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
  • John 19:28After this, Jesus, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.”
  • Mark 15:37Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit.
  • John 4:34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
  • John 10:18No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.”
  • Matt 20:28even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
  • Isa 53:12Therefore will I give him a portion with the great, and he will divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was counted with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
  • Matt 27:50Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.
  • Ps 22:15My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have brought me into the dust of death.
  • Heb 2:14–15Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
  • Rom 3:25whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance;
  • Matt 3:15But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him.
  • Heb 9:22According to the law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.
  • 1 Cor 5:7Purge out the old yeast, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place.
  • Gen 3:15I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”
  • Zech 13:7“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
  • Dan 9:26After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One shall be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end shall be with a flood, and even to the end shall be war; desolations are determined.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on John 19:30YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.

How John 19:30 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.