Bible Strands
Luke 12:50
But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses His disciples on the road to Jerusalem, speaking immediately after announcing a coming fire and just before declaring that His mission will produce division rather than peace.
The words — The text centers on baptisma (baptism) and sunechomai (I am constrained/distressed), stating that Jesus possesses a specific rite of suffering to complete and feels intense pressure until its fulfillment.
The thread — This anticipatory distress before a completed work runs through John 12:27, where Jesus acknowledges His troubled soul, and John 19:30, where He declares the work finished, all situated within the journey to Jerusalem noted in Mark 10:32.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to acknowledge that Jesus’ stated purpose depends on a specific, unavoidable suffering He actively anticipates, demanding an accounting of the cost before any claimed benefit.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!
Cross-references
- John 12:27 Now 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.
- John 19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.
- Mark 10:32 As they were going up the road to Jerusalem, Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were amazed, but those who followed were afraid. Again Jesus took the Twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him:
- John 4:34 Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.
- John 7:6 Therefore Jesus told them, “Although your time is always at hand, My time has not yet come.
- Psalms 40:8 I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.”
- Matthew 20:17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside and said,
- John 7:10 But after His brothers had gone up to the feast, He also went—not publicly, but in secret.
- John 10:39 At this, they tried again to seize Him, but He escaped their grasp.
- 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?”