Bible Strands
Mark 14:8
She has done what she could to anoint My body in advance of My burial.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses the disciples during the meal in Bethany, responding to their complaint about a woman's use of costly perfume.
The words — The text foregrounds προέλαβεν (proelaben), literally "she came beforehand," and σῶμα (sōma), meaning "body." Jesus states she performed this act to prepare his physical form for burial.
The thread — The principle of acceptable giving based on what one possesses runs through 2 Corinthians 8:12, while the burial preparation motif directly parallels John 12:7. The pattern of doing what is good and upright before God mirrors the description of Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 31:20.
Why it lands — The verse records that a devoted act taken in advance of a necessary event will be permanently remembered wherever the gospel is preached. It requires readers to value timely, sacrificial obedience over calculated practicality.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.
Cross-references
- 2 Corinthians 8:12 For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
- John 12:7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “She has kept this perfume in preparation for the day of My burial.
- 2 Chronicles 31:20 So this is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what was good and upright and true before the LORD his God.
- Mark 15:42 Now it was already evening. Since it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath),
- Luke 23:53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had yet been laid.
- 2 Corinthians 8:1 Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia.
- 1 Chronicles 29:1 Then King David said to the whole assembly, “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great because this palace is not for man, but for the LORD God.
- 2 Chronicles 34:19 When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes
- 1 Chronicles 28:2 Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. It was in my heart to build a house as a resting place for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and as a footstool for our God. I had made preparations to build it,
- Psalms 110:3 Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth.