The Alabaster Box

The words

Luke 7:36–50 (opens a new tab)

1. Alabaster Box

   An alabaster jar or flask.

   Luke says the woman brings an “alabaster box of ointment” after learning Jesus is at the Pharisee’s meal; the NET calls the container an alabaster jar.

   Luke 7:37 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 7:36-50 (opens a new tab)

2. Creditor

   A lender to whom money is owed.

   In Jesus’s story to Simon, one creditor has two debtors owing different amounts; when neither can pay, he forgives both and Jesus asks who will love him most.

   Luke 7:40–42 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 7:36-50 (opens a new tab)

3. Forgave

   Luke uses forgave for the creditor’s cancellation of both debts; Simon answers that the debtor forgiven more will love more, and Jesus says he has judged rightly.

   Luke 7:42–43 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 7:36-50 (opens a new tab)

4. Frankly

   Freely; describing forgiveness of the debts.

   The creditor in Jesus’s parable “frankly forgave them both” when neither debtor had money to pay; the question that follows concerns which debtor will love him most.

   Luke 7:42 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 7:36-50 (opens a new tab)

5. Hairs

   Luke says the woman wipes Jesus’s feet with the hairs of her head after wetting them with tears; Jesus later repeats those actions while speaking to Simon.

   Luke 7:38; Luke 7:44 (opens a new tab)

6. Kissed

   Luke first describes the woman kissing Jesus’s feet; Jesus later contrasts Simon’s lack of a kiss with her continuing to kiss his feet since his arrival.

   Luke 7:38; Luke 7:45 (opens a new tab)

7. Loved Much

   Luke records Jesus’s words “for she loved much” while he speaks to Simon about the woman’s forgiven sins; he then addresses her directly, saying her sins are forgiven.

   Luke 7:47–48 (opens a new tab)

8. Ointment

   Perfumed oil, in this passage.

   Luke calls the jar’s contents ointment and describes the woman anointing Jesus’s feet with it; the NET renders the substance as “perfumed oil.”

   Did you know?

   The Met describes the pictured glass perfume bottle’s white and yellow trails as forming a zigzag pattern on its lower body; this ancient comparison vessel is not identified as Luke’s jar.

   Luke 7:37–38 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 7:36-50 (opens a new tab) · Met: glass perfume bottle (opens a new tab)

9. Pence

   Denarii, the plural of denarius, a silver coin.

   Jesus’s parable gives one debt as five hundred pence and the other as fifty; Thayer identifies the underlying coin term as the denarius, a silver coin.

   Luke 7:41 (opens a new tab) · Thayer’s G1220: denarius (opens a new tab)

10. Rightly Judged

    After Simon chooses the debtor forgiven more as the one who will love more, Jesus replies, “Thou hast rightly judged,” then turns toward the woman.

    Luke 7:42–44 (opens a new tab)

11. Sat at Meat

    Reclined at table for a meal.

    Luke’s KJV places Jesus “at meat” in the Pharisee’s house when the woman learns of the meal; the NET’s translation note describes him reclining at table.

    Luke 7:36–37 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 7:36-50 (opens a new tab)

12. Sinner

    Luke introduces an unnamed woman as “a sinner”; Simon repeats that description in his thoughts after seeing her touch Jesus, before Jesus begins speaking to him.

    Luke 7:37; Luke 7:39–40 (opens a new tab)

13. Tears

    Luke places the woman behind Jesus at his feet, weeping; her tears wet his feet before she wipes them with her hair, kisses them and anoints them.

    Luke 7:38 (opens a new tab)

14. Wash

    Jesus tells Simon that he provided no water for his feet, then contrasts that omission with the woman washing his feet with tears and wiping them with her hair.

    Luke 7:44 (opens a new tab)

15. Wiped

    Luke describes the woman wiping Jesus’s feet with her hair between washing them with tears and kissing them; Jesus recalls the wiping while contrasting her actions with Simon’s.

    Luke 7:38; Luke 7:44 (opens a new tab)