Matthew 26:7

There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
unto	προσῆλθεν prosēlthen	G4334	to approach · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
him	αὐτῷ autō	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
woman	γυνὴ gunē	G1135	a woman · noun — nominative singular feminine
having	ἔχουσα echousa	G2192	to hold (used in very various applications · verb — present active participle, nominative singular feminine
box	ἀλάβαστρον alabastron	G211	properly · noun — accusative singular neuter
of	μύρου murou	G3464	"myrrh" · noun — genitive singular neuter
precious	βαρυτίμου barutimou	G927	highly valuable · adjective — genitive singular neuter
ointment	μύρον mýron	G3464	"myrrh"
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
it	κατέχεεν katecheen	G2708	to pour down (out) · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
on	ἐπὶ epi	G1909	properly · preposition
his	αὐτοῦ autou	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
head	κεφαλῆς kephalēs	G2776	the head (as the part most readily taken hold of) · noun — genitive singular feminine
sat	ἀνακειμένου. anakeimenou	G345	to recline (as a corpse or at a meal) · verb — present middle or passive deponent participle, genitive singular masculine

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

John 12:2-3 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
Luke 7:46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
Luke 7:37-38 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box…
Ecclesiastes 9:8 Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.
Psalms 133:2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garmen…
Song of Solomon 1:3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.
Isaiah 57:9 And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself…
Exodus 30:23-33 Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fift…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

John Gill on Matthew 26:7

There came unto him a woman,.... By some thought to be the same that is spoken of in Luke 7:37, and by most, to be Mary, the sister of Lazarus, John 12:3, which may be true; for it is possible that one and the same woman, might perform a like action at different times; for to neither of the above, at the same time, will the following agree: not to the former, for though that was done in the house of one Simon, yet not Simon the leper, but Simon the Pharisee; who though he had a particular respect for Christ, which few of that sect had, yet appeared to be then of a Pharisaical spirit; that was done in Galilee, this near Jerusalem in Bethany; the woman there anointed the feet of Christ, but th…

Read the whole note in the console

John Calvin on Matthew 26:1-13

Matthew 26:1-13 Matthew 26:1-13 Mark 14:1-9 Luke 22:1-2 1. And it happened when Jesus had finished all these discourses, he said to his disciples, 2. You know that after two days is the passover; and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. 3. Then were assembled the chief priests, and scribes, and elders of the people, in the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, 4. And entered into consultation how they would take Jesus by stratagem, and kill him. 5. But they said, Not during the festival, lest there be a commotion among the people. 6. And when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, 7. A woman came to him, having ointment, and poured it on his head, whi…

Read the whole note in the console

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 26:7

The jar of expensive perfume was a burial ointment (see Mark 16:1; Luke 23:56–24:1; John 12:1-7; 19:38-42) made of nard, which was harvested in India. The value of this jar of perfume was nearly a year’s wages (John 12:5).

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

(Hom. in Ev. xxxiii. 1.) Or, we may think that this is the same woman whom Luke calls a sinner, and John names Mary.
— Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Alabaster is a kind of marble, white but marked with veins of different colours, which was in use for vessels to hold ointment, because it was said to preserve it from corruption. From the Greek πίστις, faith, whence 'pisticus,' faithful. For this ointment was pure, unadulterated.
— Rabanus Maurus ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

(in Luc. 7, 37.) It is possible therefore that they were different persons, and so all appearance of contradiction between the Evangelists is removed. Or it is possible that it was the same woman at two different times and two different stages of desert; first while yet a sinner, afterwards more advanced.
— Ambrose of Milan ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Alabaster — Occurs only in the New Testament in connection with the box of “ointment of spikenard very precious,” with the contents of which a woman anointed the head of Jesus as he sat at supper in the house of…
Judas Iscariot — (Judas of Kerioth). He is sometimes called “the son of Simon,” (John 6:71; 13:2,26) but more commonly ISCARIOTES. (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:19; Luke 6:16) etc. The name Iscariot has received many…
Simon — The abbreviated form of Simeon. (1.) One of the twelve apostles, called the Canaanite (Matt. 10:4; Mark 3:18). This word “Canaanite” does not mean a native of Canaan, but is derived from the Syriac…
Alabaster · Vessels ma — Vessels ma
Bethany · Jesus attends a feast in — Jesus attends a feast in
Box · Ma — Ma
Love · .Mary — .Mary
Ointment · .The alabaster container of — .The alabaster container of

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).