KJV: Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
YLT: Jesus, therefore, said, 'Suffer her; for the day of my embalming she hath kept it,
Darby: Jesus therefore said, Suffer her to have kept this for the day of my preparation for burial;
ASV: Jesus therefore said, Suffer her to keep it against the day of my burying.
Εἶπεν | Said |
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: λέγω Sense: to speak, say. |
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ὁ | - |
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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Ἰησοῦς | Jesus |
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: Ἰησοῦς Sense: Joshua was the famous captain of the Israelites, Moses’ successor. |
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Ἄφες | Leave alone |
Parse: Verb, Aorist Imperative Active, 2nd Person Singular Root: ἀφίημι Sense: to send away. |
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αὐτήν | her |
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Accusative Feminine 3rd Person Singular Root: αὐτός Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself. |
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ἵνα | so that |
Parse: Conjunction Root: ἵνα Sense: that, in order that, so that. |
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ἡμέραν | day |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: ἡμέρα Sense: the day, used of the natural day, or the interval between sunrise and sunset, as distinguished from and contrasted with the night. |
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τοῦ | of the |
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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ἐνταφιασμοῦ | burial |
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular Root: ἐνταφιασμός Sense: preparation of a body for burial. |
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μου | of Me |
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive 1st Person Singular Root: ἐγώ Sense: I, me, my. |
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τηρήσῃ | she may keep |
Parse: Verb, Aorist Subjunctive Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: τηρέω Sense: to attend to carefully, take care of. |
Greek Commentary for John 12:7
This reading (ινα hina tērēsēi purpose clause with τηρεω hina and first aorist active subjunctive of τετηρεκεν tēreō) rather than that of the Textus Receptus (just ινα tetēreken perfect active indicative) is correct. It is supported by Aleph B D L W Theta. The απες hina can be rendered as above after ενταπιασμος aphes according to Koiné idiom or more probably: “Let her alone: it was that,” etc. (supplying “it was”). Either makes good sense. The word ενταπιαζω entaphiasmos is a later and rare substantive from the late verb entaphiazō to prepare for burial (Matthew 26:12; John 19:40), and means preparation for burial. In N.T. only here and Mark 14:8. “Preparation for my burial” is the idea here and in Mark. The idea of Jesus is that Mary had saved this money to use in preparing his body for burial. She is giving him the flowers before the funeral. We can hardly take it that Mary did not use all of the ointment for Mark (Mark 14:3) says that she broke it and yet he adds (Mark 14:8) what John has here. It is a paradox, but Jesus is fond of paradoxes. Mary has kept this precious gift by giving it now beforehand as a preparation for my burial. We really keep what we give to Christ. This is Mary‘s glory that she had some glimmering comprehension of Christ‘s death which none of the disciples possessed. [source]
This passage presents great difficulty. According to the reading just given, the meaning is that Mary had kept the ointment, perhaps out of the store provided for Lazarus' burial, against the day of Christ's preparation for the tomb. The word ἐνταφιασμοῦ is wrongly rendered burial. It means the preparation for burial, the laying out, or embalmment. It is explained by John 19:40, as the binding in linen cloths with spices, “as the manner of the Jews is ἐνταφιάζειν toprepare for burial,” not to bury. It is the Latin pollingere, to wash and prepare a corpse for the funeral pile. Hence the name of the servant to whom this duty was committed was pollinctor. He was a slave of the libitinarius, or furnishing undertaker. Mary, then, has kept the ointment in order to embalm Jesus with it on this day, as though He were already dead. This is the sense of the Synoptists. Matthew (Matthew 26:12) says, she did it with reference to my preparation for burial. Mark, she anticipated to anoint. The reading of the Received Text is, however, disputed. The best textual critics agree that the perfect, τετήρηκεν , she hath kept, was substituted for the original reading τηρήσῃ , the aorist, she may keep, or may have kept, by some one who was trying to bring the text into harmony with Mark 14:8; not understanding how she could keep for His burial that which she poured out now. Some, however, urge the exact contrary, namely, that the perfect is the original reading, and that the aorist is a correction by critics who were occupied with the notion that no man is embalmed before his death, or who failed to see how the ointment could have been kept already, as it might naturally be supposed to have been just purchased. (So Godet and Field.)-DIVIDER- According to the corrected reading, ἵνα , in order that, is inserted after ἄφες αὐτὴν , let her alone, or suffer her; τετήρηκεν , hath kept, is changed to τηρήσῃ , may keep, and the whole is rendered, suffer her to keep it against the day of my burying. So Rev. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- But it is difficult to see why Christ should desire to have kept for His embalmment what had already been poured out upon Him. Some, as Meyer, assume that only a part of the ointment was poured out, and refer αὐτό , it, to the part remaining. “Let her alone, that she may not give away to the poor this ointment, of which she has just used a portion for the anointing of my feet, but preserve it for the day of my embalmming.” Canon Westcott inclines to this view of the use of only a part. But the inference from the synoptic narratives can be only that the whole contents of the flask were used, and the mention of the pound by John, and the charge of waste are to the same effect. There is nothing whatever to warrant a contrary supposition. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Others explain, suffer her to have kept it, or suffer that she may have kept it. So Westcott, who says: “The idiom by which a speaker throws himself into the past, and regards what is done as still a purpose, is common to all languages.”-DIVIDER- Others, again, retain the meaning let her alone, and render ἵνα , in order that, with an ellipsis, thus: “Let her alone: (she hath not sold her treasure) in order that she might keep it,” etc. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- The old rendering, as A.V., is the simplest, and gives a perfectly intelligible and consistent sense. If, however, this must be rejected, it seems, on the whole, best to adopt the marginal reading of the Rev., with the elliptical ἵνα : let her alone: it was that she might keep it. This preserves the prohibitory force of ἄφες αὐτήν , which is implied in Matthew 26:10, and is unquestionable in Mark 14:6. Compare Matthew 15:14; Matthew 19:14; Matthew 27:49. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Note that the promise of the future repute of this act (Matthew 26:13; Mark 14:9) is omitted by the only Evangelist who records Mary's name in connection with it. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for John 12:7
Properly, to prepare for burial. See on John 12:7. Compare Septuagint, Genesis 1:2, where the same word is used for embalming the body of Joseph. [source]
Present (vivid dramatic) active indicative of βλεπω blepō days and a half Accusative of extent of time. ημισυ Hēmisu is neuter singular though ημερας hēmeras (days) is feminine as in Mark 6:23; Revelation 12:14. The days of the gloating over the dead bodies are as many as the years of the prophesying by the witnesses (Revelation 11:3), but there is no necessary correspondence (day for a year). This delight of the spectators “is represented as at once fiendish and childish” (Swete).Suffer not (ουκ απιουσιν ouk aphiousin). Present active indicative of απιω aphiō late form for απιημι aphiēmi as in Mark 1:34 (cf. απεις apheis in Revelation 2:20). This use of απιημι aphiēmi with the infinitive is here alone in the Apocalypse, though common elsewhere (John 11:44, John 11:48; John 12:7; John 18:8).Their dead bodies “Their corpses,” plural here, though singular just before and in Revelation 11:8.To be laid in a tomb (τετηναι εις μνημα tethēnai eis mnēma). First aorist passive of τιτημι tithēmi to place. Μνημα Mnēma (old word from μιμνησκω mimnēskō to remind) is a memorial, a monument, a sepulchre, a tomb (Mark 5:3). “In a country where burial regularly took place on the day of death the time of exposure and indignity would be regarded long” (Beckwith). See Tobit 1:18ff. [source]
Present active indicative of απιω aphiō late form for απιημι aphiēmi as in Mark 1:34 (cf. απεις apheis in Revelation 2:20). This use of απιημι aphiēmi with the infinitive is here alone in the Apocalypse, though common elsewhere (John 11:44, John 11:48; John 12:7; John 18:8). [source]