Preparation for interment
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Entaphiasmos names preparation for burial and occurs in exactly two governed settings, Mark 14:8 and John 12:7. In both, Jesus interprets a woman's costly anointing in relation to His approaching burial.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐνταφιασμός (G1780) · Open the biblical lexicon
Entaphiasmos names preparation for burial and occurs in exactly two governed settings, Mark 14:8 and John 12:7. In both, Jesus interprets a woman's costly anointing in relation to His approaching burial.
The BSB source-word alignment has 2 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include burial (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 14:8. Its strongest book concentrations include John (1), Mark (1).
Entaphiasmos names preparation for burial and occurs in exactly two governed settings, Mark 14:8 and John 12:7. In both, Jesus interprets a woman's costly anointing in relation to His approaching burial. Mark says she has anointed His body beforehand for burial; John records Jesus defending Mary and connecting the perfume with the day of His burial. The noun identifies the burial purpose within Jesus' words.
It does not establish a complete first-century burial procedure, disclose how fully the woman understood the act, or make every costly gift a prophetic sign. The immediate scenes also preserve concern for the poor without allowing that concern to be used as a weapon against this act of devotion. Faithful teaching should keep both direct occurrences, their Passion setting, and Jesus' authoritative interpretation together while leaving unspoken motives and ritual details unstated.
The two governed G1780 occurrences are parallel Passion settings in which Jesus relates a woman's anointing to His burial.
She has done what she could to anoint My body in advance of My burial.
Jesus describes the anointing of His body as advance preparation for burial and commends what the woman did.
Leave her alone, Jesus replied. She has kept this perfume in preparation for the day of My burial.
Jesus defends Mary from Judas's objection and relates the perfume to the day of His burial.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Anointing a body with spices and perfumes as ritual preparation for burial, not ordinary washing.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
2 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
embalming, preparation of a body for burial
Read verseembalming, preparation of a body for burial
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 2 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
ἐνταφιασμός is built from this root:
G1780 has a narrow and valuable role. It names burial preparation in two anointing accounts, and Jesus Himself supplies that interpretation. Mark emphasizes that the woman did what she could and anointed His body beforehand; John names Mary and places Jesus' defense against Judas's objection within the approach of Passover and the cross. The noun therefore belongs to the realism of Jesus' coming death and burial, not to a generalized spirituality of extravagance.
The passages can commend devotion and expose dishonest criticism, but the word does not tell readers how much Mary understood, define an entire burial rite, or turn costly giving into a universal proof of faith. Preachers should preserve the poor as a real concern while refusing to use them, as Judas did, to mask theft or condemn the act Jesus receives.
John.12.7
The noun denotes preparation for burial and is governed by only two New Testament occurrences. Related verbs, anointing vocabulary, and burial customs require their own lexical evidence.
Old Testament burial and anointing practices may provide historical background, but neither constitutes another G1780 occurrence or overrides the two Gospel contexts.
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