What Does Mark 14:6 Mean?
But Jesus said, Release her. Why do you weary her? She has worked a beautiful work toward me.
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 Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.THE KEY
“Let her alone” carries the force of release: Jesus names her disputed act as good work and tells the crowd to stop pressing her.
THE MEANING
When your act of care is put under suspicion, Jesus names what is there: good work offered to him. He questions the pressure placed on the person giving it and receives the act without waiting for the crowd’s approval.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A generous act does not become waste simply because onlookers object to it.
THE ROOT
ἀφίετε
aphiete
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι (aphiēmi), from ἀπό (apo, away) + ἵημι (hiēmi, send or let go)
To send away, leave, let go, or release.
“Release her” in this verse is aphiete. The command carries more than physical distance: this word can mean to leave, release, or forgive. Jesus directs that release toward the woman by stopping the pressure around her.
ALSO GROWS
aphesis: Release, remission, forgiveness.
ἄφεσις
This noun from the same word family names release in Luke 4:18; here the verb’s release sense has a concrete target: the woman being troubled.
aphienai: To leave, let go, release, or forgive.
ἀφιέναι
This infinitive form shares the same verb family and shows how the idea of letting go extends to releasing a person or a debt.
ἠργάσατο
ērgasato
GROWS FROM
ἔργον (ergon), the seed of ἐργάζομαι (ergazomai)
Work, deed, action; ergazomai means to work or accomplish.
“a beautiful work” in this verse is ērgasato. She “wrought” a “work”: the verb and its object share one seed. Jesus names her disputed act as deliberate work offered to him, not an empty gesture.
ALSO GROWS
ergon: Work, deed, action.
ἔργον
This is the noun Jesus uses for what she has done; the action itself is named as good.
ergatēs: Worker, laborer.
ἐργάτης
The same word family names the person who does the work, keeping the focus on active care rather than appearance.
ergasia: Labor, work, business.
ἐργασία
This branch also carries the sense of work put into action, echoing Jesus’ description of her deed.
THE PATTERN
An act’s goodness is disclosed by its fruit, even when the people watching fail to see it.
She has done what she had. She has reached ahead to anoint my body for the burial.And he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.Give her from the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.THE THREAD
The breath of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the emptied. He has sent me to heal the shattered in heart, to herald release to the captives, and the return of sight for the blind, to send the crushed away into release.The Greek noun translated “deliverance” is ἄφεσις (aphesis), from the same word family as ἀφίετε (aphiete), “let her alone.” In Luke, release opens captives’ bonds; here, Jesus directs release toward a woman under pressure.
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