By pouring this perfume on Me, she has prepared My body for burial.
Parallel translations
- WEB For in pouring this ointment on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.
- KJV For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.
- NKJV For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial.
- NASB For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial.
- NLT She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial.
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 interprets the anointing as preparation for His burial. He again points to His imminent death.
Overview
Jesus gives the woman's act a deeper meaning than even she may have intended: it anoints His body beforehand for burial. This reveals once more His clear foreknowledge of the cross looming days away. Her devotion thus becomes a prophetic testimony to the death by which He would save His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Mark 14:8She has done what she could to anoint My body in advance of My burial.
- John 12:7“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “She has kept this perfume in preparation for the day of My burial.
- Luke 23:56Then they returned to prepare spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath, according to the commandment.
- 2 Chr 16:14And he was buried in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier that was full of spices and various blended perfumes; then they made a great fire in his honor.
- Mark 16:1When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could go and anoint the body of Jesus.
- John 19:39–40Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus at night, also brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 26:12 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.