What were Jesus’s last words on the cross?

Four Gospels, three endings

The Gospels agree on the crucifixion outside Jerusalem, the charge “King of the Jews” over his head, and the women watching. But each one remembers the last words differently, and each choice fits the way that Gospel tells the whole story.

Mark and Matthew. From noon to three, darkness covers the land. Then:

At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

The words are Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, and they are the first line of Psalm 22. Some bystanders think he is calling Elijah. Then he gives a loud cry and dies. Mark’s account is the starkest of the four.

Luke. Luke’s Jesus dies praying, with the words of Psalm 31:5.

Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” Having said this, he breathed his last.

John. In John, Jesus receives sour wine and says one word in Greek, tetelestai: “It is finished!” Then “he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30). Finished here means completed, the work done.

The seven sayings

Put together, the Gospels give seven sayings from the cross. Christian tradition, especially on Good Friday, often reads them in this order:

1. “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
2. “Today you will be with me in Paradise,” to one of the men crucified with him (Luke 23:43).
3. “Woman, behold, your son!” and to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” (John 19:26–27).
4. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46).
5. “I am thirsty!” (John 19:28).
6. “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
7. “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46).

No single Gospel has all seven. Mark and Matthew record one; Luke, three; John, three.

Why the cry of abandonment matters

Readers have long wondered why Jesus would cry “why have you forsaken me?” Many point out that quoting the first line of a psalm called the whole psalm to mind, the way a first line names a song. Psalm 22 begins in despair and ends in trust and praise. Others read the cry as plain anguish, kept by Mark because it was too raw to invent. Both readings take the words seriously.

Crucifixion was Rome’s punishment for slaves and rebels, meant to be seen. A Roman centurion on duty, Mark says, watched him die and said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”