“Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
Parallel translations
- WEB saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
- KJV Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
- NKJV saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”
- NASB saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
- NLT “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
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 asks the Father to remove the cup, yet submits, 'not my will, but yours, be done.' It is the supreme model of obedient surrender.
Overview
The 'cup' represents the suffering and wrath Jesus must bear on the cross, and His honest plea shows the real cost of redemption. Yet His full submission to the Father's will reveals perfect obedience where Adam and all humanity failed. This surrender secures salvation and teaches believers how to pray amid suffering.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- John 12:27–28Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? No, it is for this purpose that I have come to this hour.
- Matt 26:39Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”
- Matt 26:42A second time He went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cup cannot pass unless I drink it, may Your will be done.”
- Mark 14:36“Abba, Father,” He said, “all things are possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.”
- Ps 40:8I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.”
- John 18:11“Put your sword back in its sheath!” Jesus said to Peter. “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?”
- Matt 20:22“You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” the brothers answered.
- John 5:30I can do nothing by Myself; I judge only as I hear. And My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
- John 6:38For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.
- Heb 10:7–10Then I said, ‘Here I am, it is written about Me in the scroll: I have come to do Your will, O God.’”
- John 4:34Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.
- Luke 22:17–20After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves.
- Isa 51:22Thus says your Lord, the LORD, even your God, who defends His people: “See, I have removed from your hand the cup of staggering. From that goblet, the cup of My fury, you will never drink again.
- Matt 26:44So He left them and went away once more and prayed a third time, saying the same thing.
- Jer 25:15This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.
- Isa 51:17Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His fury; you who have drained the goblet to the dregs—the cup that makes men stagger.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 22:42 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.