What Does Mark 14:3 Mean?
And as he was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, reclining at table, there came a woman with an alabaster jar of genuine nard oil, very costly, and she shattered the jar and poured it down over his head.
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
And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.THE KEY
The costly gift is not made by the breaking; the breaking uncovers what the vessel already holds.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the urge to equate intactness with value: the oil is costly before the vessel breaks, and its worth remains as it is poured over Jesus’ head. In Simon the leper’s house, disease and costly giving occupy the same room; neither cancels the other. What is precious becomes present through release.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief is that releasing something precious destroys its value; here, the oil’s worth precedes the breaking and remains in the pouring.
THE ROOT
συντρίψασα
syntripsasa
GROWS FROM
τριβ-
trib-
Rubbing or wearing down; with σύν, the verb means to crush or break into pieces.
“brake” in this verse is syntripsasa. The Greek carries the force of shattering, not simply taking off a lid. The woman does not add value to the oil; the vessel’s hold gives way, and its contents become present.
ALSO GROWS
tribō: Rub, wear down, or grind.
τρίβω
The base verb makes the break physical: the vessel is changed by pressure, not neatly opened.
syntrimma: Crushing, ruin, or fragments.
σύντριμμα
This related noun makes the result tangible: the container breaks into pieces as what it held is released.
κατέχεεν
katecheen
GROWS FROM
χέω
cheō
To pour or shed; καταχέω describes pouring over or down upon.
“poured” in this verse is katecheen. The sentence continues past the broken vessel and follows the oil onto Jesus’ head. Breaking is not the final action; it makes the pouring possible.
ALSO GROWS
ekcheō: Pour out.
ἐκχέω
This related verb carries the same movement outward, making the scene a full release rather than a small application.
chysis: Pouring or effusion.
χύσις
The noun keeps attention on the act of outpouring, not only on where the oil lands.
THE PATTERN
Breaking does not erase what is precious; it can bring into view what the vessel cannot create.
And the three companies blew the horns, and shattered the jars, and held the torches in their left hands, and the horns in their right hands to blow with; and they called out, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.But we hold this treasure in clay vessels, so that the overflow of strength may be of God and not from us.The LORD is near to those whose heart is broken, and delivers those crushed in breath.THE THREAD
For he had often been bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the fetters crushed to pieces; and no one had the strength to tame him.The same Greek verb behind “brake” appears here for the fetters shattered by the man no one can tame. In Mark 14 the vessel breaks and releases oil; in Mark 5 the fetters break under force, the shared root holds the shattering together while the thing released changes.
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