Luke 22:44

22:44 his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood: The text does not say that Jesus sweated blood, as is often supposed, but that his sweat fell like blood pouring to the ground, which probably means that in his agony he sweated profusely.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 22:44. Ἐν ἀγωνίᾳ) Ἀγωνία, the height of grief and distress (comp. note on Mat 26:37, where the expressions are λυπεῖσθαι καὶ ἀδημονεῖν, for which Mark has ἐκθαμβεῖσθαι καὶ ἀδ.), arose from the presentation to Him of that cup. The same word occurs in 2Ma 3:14; 2Ma 3:16; 2Ma 3:21; 2Ma 15:19. It properly denotes the distress and agitation of mind which is attendant on entering upon a contest [ἀγών], and an arduous undertaking, even though unattended with any doubt as to the favourable issue.—ἐκτενέστερον, more intensely.[248] [This was done at His second and third departures, Mat 26:42; Mat 26:44; Mat 26:39. Therefore it was immediately after His first supplication that the angel appeared; and after each of His prayers we may suppose that the angel strengthened Jesus.”—V. g.]) The more intensely with both mind and voice: Heb 5:7. Therefore not only were the (three) nearer disciples (Peter, James, and John) able to hear Him, but also the eight others.—ἐγένετο δὲ, but His sweat became) Hereby is set forth (exhibited) the intensity of His distress and agony.—ὁ ἱδρῶς, sweat) Although it was cold at the time: Joh 18:18. [That sweat was drawn out by the power received through the angel, by the agony of the struggle, by the intensity of His prayers, and His desire of drinking the cup.—V. g.]—ὡσεὶ θρόμβοι) αἵματος θρόμβοι, clotted drops (hillocks), from θρέψαι, i.e. πῆξαι, to fix or coagulate. Θρόμβοι αἵματος, drops, thick and clotted, of real blood. The force of the particle ὡσεὶ falls on θρόμβοι, not on αἵματος, as is evident from the fact of it (not αἵματος) having the epithet, and in the Plural, καταβαίνοντες. The blood streaming from the pores in smaller drops became clotted together by reason of its copiousness. If the sweat had not been a bloody one, the mention of blood might have been altogether omitted, for the word θρόμβοι even by itself was sufficient to express thick sweat.—ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, upon the earth) by reason of its copiousness. Thereby the earth received its blessing.

[248] More earnestly straining every nerve in prayer. Ἐκτενής, Th. τείνω, I stretch or strain.—E. and T.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 22:44 . ἐν ἀγωνίᾳ , in an agony (of fear), or simply in “a great fear”. So Field ( Ot. Nor. ), who has an important note on the word ἀγωνία , with examples to show that fear is the radical meaning of the word. Loesner supports the same view with examples from Philo. Here only in N.T. From this word comes the name “The Agony in the Garden”. θρόμβοι , clots (of blood), here only in N.T.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

These do not only show that Christ was true man, but other things also which the goodly have to consider of, wherein redemption of all mankind is contained in the son of God his debasing himself to the state of a servant: such things as no man can sufficiently declare.

This agony showeth that Christ strove much, and was in great distress: for Christ strove not only with the fears of death, as other men used to do, for so many martyrs might seem more constant than Christ, but with the fearful judgment of his angry Father, which is the fearfullest thing in the world: and the matter was, for that he took the burden of all our sins upon himself.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 44. Prayed more earnestly] With greater emphasis and earnestness than usual, with strong crying and tears, Heb 5:7; the reason given for which is, that he was in an agony. Kypke well observes, Vox αγωνια summum animi angorem et dolorem indicat; et idem est, quod αδημονειν, Mt 26:37; Mr 14:34. "The word αγωνια (agony) points out the utmost anguish and grief of soul, and is of the same import with αδημονειν in Matthew and Mark." See Clarke on Mt 26:37.

Drops of blood] See Clarke on Mt 26:38. Some have thought that the meaning of the words is, that the sweat was so profuse that every drop was as large as a drop of blood, not that the sweat was blood itself: but this does not appear likely. There have been cases in which persons in a debilitated state of body, or through horror of soul, have had their sweat tinged with blood. Dr. Mead from Galen observes, Contingere interdum, poros ex multo aut fervido spiritu adeo dilatari, ut etiam exeat sanguis per eos, fiatque sudor sanguineus. "Cases sometimes happen in which, through mental pressure, the pores may be so dilated that the blood may issue from them; so that there may be a bloody sweat." And Bishop PEARCE gives an instance from Thuanus (De Thou) of an Italian gentleman being so distressed with the fear of death that his body was covered with a bloody sweat. But it is fully evident that the fear of death could have no place in the mind of our blessed Lord. He was in the bloom of life, in perfect health, and had never suffered any thing from disease of any kind; this sweat was most assuredly produced by a preternatural cause. See at the end of the chapter. See Clarke on Lu 22:71.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(44) And being in an agony.—The Greek noun primarily describes a “conflict” or “struggle,” rather than mere physical pain. The phenomenon described is obviously one which would have a special interest for one of St. Luke’s calling, and the four words which he uses for “agony,” “drops,” “sweat,” “more earnestly” (literally, more intensely), though not exclusively technical, are yet such as a medical writer would naturally use. They do not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. The form of the expression, “as it were, great drops (better, clots) of blood,” leaves us uncertain, as the same Greek word does in “descending like a dove,” in Mat_3:16, whether it applies to manner or to visible appearance. On the latter, and generally received view, the phenomenon is not unparalleled, both in ancient and modern times. (Comp. the very term, “bloody sweat,” noted as a symptom of extreme exhaustion in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. iii.19, and Medical Gazette for December, 1848, quoted by Alford.) If we ask who were St. Luke’s informants, we may think either, as before, of one of the disciples, or, possibly, one of the women from whom, as above, he manifestly derived so much that he records. That “bloody sweat” must have left its traces upon the tunic that our Lord wore, and when the soldiers cast lots for it (Mat_27:35; Joh_19:24), Mary Magdalene, who stood by the cross, may have seen and noticed the fact (Joh_19:25), nor could it well have escaped the notice of Nicodemus and Joseph when they embalmed the body (Joh_19:40).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

44. being in an agony] The word which occurs here only in the N.T.— though we often have the verb agonizomai—means intense struggle and pressure of spirit, which the other Evangelists also describe in the strong words ademonein (Mat_26:37) and ekthambeisthai (Mar_14:33). It was an awful anguish of His natural life, and here alone (Mat_26:38; Joh_12:27) does He use the word ψυχὴ of Himself. It was not of course a mere shrinking from death and pain, which even the meanest natures can overcome, but the mysterious burden of the world’s guilt (2Co_5:21)—the shrinking of a sinless being from the depths of Satanic hate and horror through which He was to pass. As Luther says ‘our hard impure flesh’ can hardly comprehend the sensitiveness of a fresh unstained soul coming in contact with horrible antagonism.

as it were great drops of blood] Such a thing as a ‘bloody sweat’ seems not to be wholly unknown (Arist. Hist. Anim. iii. 19) under abnormal pathological circumstances. The blood of Abel ‘cried from the ground;’ but this blood ‘spake better things than the blood of Abel’ (Gen_4:10; Heb_12:24). St Luke does not however use the term ‘bloody sweat,’ but says that the dense sweat of agony fell from him “like blood gouts”—which may mean as drops of blood do from a wound.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when he rose from prayer,.... The Syriac version reads, "from his prayer", having finished it; and the Persic and Ethiopic versions read, "from the place of prayer", or where he prayed:

and was come to his disciples; to the three, which he had left about the distance of a stone's cast:

he found them sleeping for sorrow; on his account; for he had signified unto them, how exceeding sorrowful he was; and they might perceive by his looks and gestures, the anxiety and distress of mind he was in, which must needs affect them; and besides, he had given them some intimations of his being to be betrayed by one of them, and of his sufferings and death, and speedy departure from them; and because of these things, sorrow had filled their hearts, and this had induced heaviness and sleep upon them; See Gill on Mat 26:40.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Ver. 44. And being in an agony] Μη δια τουτο ατιμος, οτι δια σε ταπεινονος, saith a Greek father. Alphonsus is honoured in histories for this, that he abased himself so far as to help one of his subjects out of a ditch. Shall not Christ much more be honoured that helped all his out of the ditch of damnation.

He prayed more earnestly] εκτενεστερον, he bent, as it were, all his nerves, he intended the utmost activity of his spirit and of his speech; to make atonement for our dull and drowsy devotions.

Great drops of blood] Clotty blood (θρομβους αιματος) issuing through flesh and skin in great abundance. Oecolampadius tells of a certain poor man, who being kept hanging in the truss of the cord (which is a certain hanging by the hands behind, having a weighty stone fastened at their feet) the space of six hours, the sweat that dropped from his body for very pain and anguish, was almost blood. But here was no "almost" in our Saviour’s bloody sweat: while without any external violence, merely by the force of his own saddest thoughts working upon him, sanguinem congelatum quasi extruserit. (Bucholcer.) So great was Scanderbeg’s ardour in battle, that the blood burst out of his lips. But from oar Champion’s, not lips only, but whole body burst out a bloody sweat. Not his eyes only were fountains of tears, or his head waters, as Jeremiah wished, Jer 9:1, but his whole body was turned, as it were, into rivers of blood: a sweet comfort to such as are cast down for that, that their sorrow for sin is not so deep and soaking as they could desire.

Falling down to the ground] Through clothes and all, in a cold night; so great was the pressure of his passion here begun. He wept with his members; a strange kind of watering of a garden, as one saith.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And his sweat became as drops of blood, &c. This has sometimes happened, though in a lesser degree, to persons under extraordinary grief, if we believe Aristotle, lib. iii. Animanium, chap. xix. p. 891, and lib. de part. Animalium, chap. v. p. 1156. Ed. Aureliæ Allobr. an 1607. --- This passage of Christ’s bloody sweat, and of the apparition of the angel, was heretofore wanting in divers both Greek and Latin copies; as appears by St. Jerome, (lib. ii. cont. Pelagianos. tom. iv, part 2, p. 521) and by St. Hilary, lib. x. de Trin. p. 1062. Nov. Ed. It seems to have been left out by ignorant transcribers, who thought it not consistent with the dignity of Christ. But we find it in the above-said place, in St. Jerome, in St. John Chrysostom (hom. lxxxiv. in Matt.), in St. Augustine (in Psalm cxl. tom. iv, p. 1564, and in Psalm xciii, p. 1013.) in St. Epiphanius in Ancorato, p. 36, Ed. Petav. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

44. Sweat… great drops of blood—Instances of what has been called bloody sweat are on record numerous and authentic. Dr. Clarke on the passage quotes Galen through Mead as saying: “Cases sometimes happen in which, through mental pressure, the pores may be so dilated that the blood may issue from them; so that there may be a bloody sweat.” The Latin poet, Lucan, in his poem, the Pharsalia, vividly describes a case in which sudor rubet, the sweat is ruddy. Yet Luke affirms not that it was blood, but “as it were great drops of blood.”

§ 132. JESUS IS BETRAYED, Luk_22:47-53.

See notes on Mat_26:47-56; Mar_14:43-52; Joh_18:2-12.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Some (for instance, Theophylact) understand this "as it were" to signify that the expression, "drops of blood," was simply parabolic; but it is far better to understand the words in their literal sense, as our Church does when it prays, "By thine agony and bloody sweat." Athanasius even goes so far as to pronounce a ban upon those who deny this sweat of blood. Commentators give instances of this blood-sweat under abnormal pathological circumstances. Some, though by no means all, of the oldest authorities omit these last two verses (43, 44). Their omission in many of these ancient manuscripts was probably due to mistaken reverence. The two oldest and most authoritative translations, the Itala (Latin) and Peshito (Syriac), contain them, however, as do the most important Fathers of the second century, Justin and Irenaeus. We have, then, apart from the evidence of manuscripts, the testimony of the earliest Christianity in Italy and Syria, Asia Minor and Gaul, to the genuineness of these two famous verses. They are printed in the ordinary text of the Revised English Version, with a side-note alluding to their absence in some of the ancient authorities.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And being in an agony - Probably just now grappling with the powers of darkness: feeling the weight of the wrath of God, and at the same time surrounded with a mighty host of devils, who exercised all their force and malice to persecute and distract his wounded spirit. He prayed more earnestly - Even with stronger cries and tars: and his sweat - As cold as the weather was, was as it were great drops of blood - Which, by the vehement distress of his soul, were forced out of the pores, in so great a quantity as afterward united in large, thick, grumous drops, and even fell to the ground.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

44. ἐν ἀγωνίᾳ. Comp. 2Ma 3:16-17. The word which occurs here only in the N.T.—though we often have the verb ἀγωνίζομαι—means intense struggle and pressure of spirit, which the other Evangelists also describe in the strong words ἀδημονεῖν (Mat 26:37) and ἐκθαμβεῖσθαι (Mar 14:33). It was an awful anguish of His natural life, and here alone (Mat 26:38; Joh 12:27) does He use the word ψυχὴ of Himself. It was not of course a mere shrinking from death and pain, which even the meanest natures can overcome, but the mysterious burden of the world’s guilt (2Co 5:21)—the shrinking of a sinless being from the depths of Satanic hate and horror through which He was to pass. As Luther says ‘our hard impure flesh’ can hardly comprehend the sensitiveness of a fresh unstained soul coming in contact with horrible antagonism.

ὡσεὶ θρόμβοι αἵματος. Such a thing as a ‘bloody sweat’ seems not to be wholly unknown (Arist. Hist. Anim. III. 19) under abnormal pathological circumstances. (It is said that in the Netherlands the Duke of Anjou died sweating blood.) The blood of Abel ‘cried from the ground;’ but this blood ‘spake better things than the blood of Abel’ (Gen 4:10; Heb 12:24). St Luke does not however use the term ‘bloody sweat,’ but says that the dense sweat of agony fell from him “like blood gouts”—which may mean as drops of blood do from a wound. This is the sense given to the words by Theophylact, Euthymius, Grotius, Hammond, Michaelis, Olshausen, Bleek, &c.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

44.] The intention of the Evangelist seems clearly to be, to convey the idea that the sweat was (not fell like, but was) like drops of blood;—i.e. coloured with blood,—for so I understand the ὡσεί, as just distinguishing the drops highly coloured with blood, from pure blood. Aristotle, speaking of certain morbid states of the blood, says, ἐξυγραινομένου δὲ λίαν νοσοῦσιν· γίνεται γὰρ ἰχωροειδές, καὶ διοῤῥοῦται, οὕτως ὥστε ἤδη τινὲς ἴδισαν αἱματώδη ἱδρῶτα, Hist. Anim. iii. 19. To suppose that it only fell like drops of blood (why not drops of any thing else? and drops of blood from what, and where?) is to nullify the force of the sentence, and make the insertion of αἵματος not only superfluous but absurd.

We must not forget, in asking on what testimony this rests, that the marks of such drops would be visible after the termination of the agony. An interesting example of a sweat of blood under circumstances of strong terror, accompanied by loss of speech, is given in an article by Dr. Schneider in Casper’s Wochenschrift for 1848: and cited in the Medical Gazette for December of that year.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

44. ὡσεὶ θρόμβοι αἵματος καταβαίνμοντες. Even if καταβαίνοντος (א V X, Vulg. Boh.) be right, the words do not necessarily mean more than that the drops of sweat in some way resembled drops of blood, e.g. by their size and frequency. But it is not likely that no more than this is intended, or that the words are a metaphorical expression. like our “tears of blood.” That Justin in referring to the statement omits αἵματος—ἱδρὼς ὡσεὶ θρόμβοι κατεχεῖτο (Try. 103.)—does not prove that he did not understand actual blood to be meant. Rather it shows that he considered that θρόμβοι, “clots,” sufficiently expressed “drops of blood.”2

The expression “bloody sweat” is probably a correct interpretation: and the possibility of blood exuding through the pores seems to be established by examples. Comp. Arist. Hist. Anim. 3:19. De Mezeray states of Charles 9. of France that “During the last two weeks of his life (May 1574) his constitution made strange efforts … blood gushed from all the outlets of his body, even from the pores of his skin; so that on, one occasion he was found bathed in a bloody sweat.” See W. Stroud, The Physical Cause the Death of Christ, 1847, pp. 85-88, 379-389. Schanz cites Lönarz, De sudore sanguinis, Bonn, 1850, and Langen, Die letzten Lebenstage, p. 214. Why is αἵματος added, if no αἶμα accompanied the ἱδρώς? It would be visible in the moonlight, when Jesus returned to the disciples: ubi quidem non solis oculis, sed quasi membris omnibus flevisse videtur (Bernard, In Dom. Palm. Serm. 3:4). Diatess-Tat. has “like a stream of blood.”

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Being in an agony [γενομενος εν αγωνια] . There is in the aorist participle a suggestion of a growing intensity in the struggle, which is not conveyed by the simple being. Literally, though very awkwardly, it is, having become in an agony : having progressed from the first prayer (began to pray, ver. 41) into an intense struggle of prayer and sorrow. Wycliffe's rendering hints at this : and he, made in agony, prayed. Agony occurs only here. It is used by medical writers, and the fact of a sweat accompanying an agony is also mentioned by them.

More earnestly [εκτενεστερον] . See on fervently, 1Pe 1:22. Was [εγενετο] . More correctly, as Rev., became. See on genomenov, being, above.

Great drops [θρομβοι] . Only here in New Testament : gouts or clots. Very common in medical language. Aristotle mentions a bloody sweat arising from the blood being in poor condition; and Theophrastus mentions a physician who compared a species of sweat to blood.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.