--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -464,7 +464,7 @@ endif()
 option(PREFER_LUA "Prefer Lua over LuaJIT in the nvim executable." OFF)
 
 if(PREFER_LUA)
-  find_package(Lua 5.1 EXACT REQUIRED)
+  find_package(Lua ${PREFER_LUA} EXACT REQUIRED)
   set(LUA_PREFERRED_INCLUDE_DIRS ${LUA_INCLUDE_DIR})
   set(LUA_PREFERRED_LIBRARIES ${LUA_LIBRARIES})
   # Passive (not REQUIRED): if LUAJIT_FOUND is not set, nvim-test is skipped.