What Does John 12:7 Mean?
Then Jesus said, Let her go, so that she might guard this for the day of my burial.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.THE KEY
Jesus’ command to “let her alone” releases Mary from judgment while naming her kept act as preparation for burial.
THE MEANING
When someone else’s accounting calls your act waste, Jesus’ words speak a release: “Let her alone.” What you keep with care can carry a meaning that is not yet visible to those measuring its cost. The verse holds protection and burial together: Mary’s act is released from judgment as it becomes bound to Jesus’ death.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A costly act is worthless unless its value is immediately clear to the people judging it.
THE ROOT
ἄφες
aphes
GROWS FROM
ἀπό (apo, away) + ἵημι (hiemi, send or let go)
To send away, release, or let go.
“Let go” in this verse is aphes. “Let her alone” can sound like a request for silence, but the verb carries the force of letting go or releasing. The same word family can speak of releasing a debt, and the same verb appears when Jesus tells others to let Lazarus go.
ALSO GROWS
aphesis: Release, remission
ἄφεσις
The word for release or remission brings the loosening of what is held against someone into the meaning of Jesus’ command.
aphiemi: Let go, release, leave
ἀφίημι
In John 11:44, this verb is rendered “let him go,” giving “let her alone” the sense of releasing someone from restraint.
τηρήσῃ
terēsē
GROWS FROM
τηρέω
tēreō
To keep watch, guard, or preserve.
“guard” in this verse is terēsē. The Greek word carries the sense of guarding or preserving, so “kept” can hold more than ordinary possession. Mary’s act is held with care toward the day named in the verse, while Jesus releases her to have done it.
ALSO GROWS
syntēreō: Preserve, keep safe
συντηρέω
This related verb makes the preserving sense visible: Mary’s keeping can suggest holding something in care for the day ahead.
tērēsis: Keeping, observance
τήρησις
This noun shows the family can describe attentive, sustained keeping, adding care and watchfulness to the English word.
THE PATTERN
Release loosens what is being held so a person, a debt, or a life can move forward.
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told the Great House, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may dance a feast to me in the wilderness.And release our debts, as we also release our debtors.The one who had died came out, his hands and feet bound in strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped his face. Jesus said to them, Untie him, and let him go.THE THREAD
The one who had died came out, his hands and feet bound in strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped his face. Jesus said to them, Untie him, and let him go.The same Greek verb behind “Let her alone” appears when Jesus says, “let him go.” The shared root places Mary’s release beside the loosening of graveclothes: one protects her act in the face of burial; the other releases a living body from its bindings.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us