For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me 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.
- BSB By pouring this perfume on Me, she has prepared My body for burial.
- ESV In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial.
- NKJV For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial.
- NLT She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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. She has anointed my body beforehand for the burying.
- John 12:7But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial.
- Luke 23:56They returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
- 2 Chr 16:14They buried him in his own tomb, which he had dug out for himself in David’s city, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumers’ art; and they made a very great fire for him.
- Mark 16:1When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him.
- John 19:39–40Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred Roman pounds.
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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
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