3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Painting by Sawai Chinnawong, used with permission by the Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC) at Princeton Theological Seminary. You can purchase this and many other artworks by artists in residence at the OSMC in high resolution and without a watermark via the OSMC website .
“Sawai Chinnawong of Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand, [is] an ethnic Mon whose Buddhist ancestors migrated to Thailand from Myanmar, Mr. Chinnawong committed his life to Christ while in his twenties. Today he is a member of the United Church of Christ of Thailand. His love for art began when he was a child in Thailand when he saw some old men painting on a Buddhist temple wall. He says he would watch them for hours each day. Sawai’s interest in art persisted into adulthood, and he studied art in a vocational school in Bangkok, Thailand. It was at this time that Sawai became a Christian. He says that a missionary was witnessing on the street one day, and soon after, he began to study the Bible every day after art class.
“After completing his art studies, Sawai attended the McGilvary Faculty of Theology at Payap University in Chiang Mai. He was deeply influenced by a series of lectures on the history of Christian Art given there in 1984 by artist and professor Nalini Jayasuriya, another of our OMSC artists. He began creating liturgical art while attending seminary, and designed the artwork for the chapel there. Today his art is appreciated in many places for its portrayal of Christian themes through a Thai graphic idiom that is inspired by Thai culture.
“‘My work represents influences from many styles…I believe Jesus Christ is present in every culture, and I have chosen to celebrate his presence in our lives through Thai traditional cultural forms. My belief is that Jesus did not choose just one people to hear his Word, but chose to make his home in every human heart. And just as his Word may be spoken in every language, so the visual message can be shared in the beauty of the many styles of artistry around the world.’ (Sawai Chinnawong).” (Source )
For more images by Sawai Chinnawong in TIPs see here.
In Gbaya, the notion of the good small of the perfume is emphasized in John 12:3 with kpi̧i̧i̧, an ideophone that describes an appetizing odor.
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “anoint” is translated in Lakota with azilyA: “to smudge.”
Steve Berneking (in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 121) tells the story of that translation:
“During one visit with the Lakota team, we were reading texts and discussing key biblical terms and how they are best rendered into Lakota. Reference was made to the ritual we label ‘anointing.’ When the Lakota word that had been glossed as ‘anoint’ was read aloud, I heard giggling among the reviewers. Knowing that this reaction called for some explanation, I asked.
“The people there told me that the Lakota verb that was used to translate ‘anoint’ was funny in that context. It is not that the verb is an uncommon one; quite the contrary. Lakota uses that verb frequently, but almost exclusively as a verb of food preparation; the verb belongs to the culinary domain. In other words, the Lakota verb used for ‘anoint’ actually referred to rubbing oil on something that was to be cooked or grilled, in this case, the apostles. The Lakota verb ipáṫaŋṫtaŋ ‘to apply oil on something’ was used quite innocently by the missionaries. The linguistic transfer was understandable: the missionaries needed a verb to translate ‘putting oil on something’; Lakota has a verb; they used that verb. The result was comical. So, during that conversation with the Lakota community, I encouraged the translators to come up with a Lakota verb that is used not simply in ‘the application of oil,’ but more pointedly in the consecration of something or somebody for a special task, or in the appointment of someone for a special purpose. Their response was almost immediate: azilyA or wazílyA ‘to smudge.’ That is how, they told me, warriors and messengers and tribal leaders have always been consecrated (or blessed) before being sent out on a special mission. Sage grass was burned, and the smoke was waved over the person or object. The trans-cultural process of using the traditional Lakota verb azilyA for the biblical notion of ‘anoint’ became, at that moment, part of the Lakota Bible.”
In Bashkir, it is translated as masekhlay (мәсехләү), when used in a ritual context. Masekhlay has the same root than masikh (мәсих), which is used both for “anointed one” in the Old Testament and in its capitalized form (Мәсих) for Μεσσίας (engl. “Messiah”) and Χριστός (engl. “Christ”) in the New Testament. For more information about this, see anointed one.
In Vidunda it is translated as “smear oil.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing how anointing was done in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
The Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew that is translated as “hair” in English is translated in Tzeltal as stsotsil sjol (Tzeltal de Oxchuc y Tenejapa) / stsotsel sjol (Tzeltal Bachajón): “blanket for the head.” (Source: Slocum / Watkins 1988, p. 35)
Painting by Wang Suda 王肅達 (1910-1963),
Copyright by the Catholic University Peking, China
Text under painting translated from Literary Chinese into English: The Seventh Commandment
The holy woman washes the Lord, a wicked disciple chastises her
Image taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.
The name “spikenard” seems to be gaining ground over “nard” in global English. The Hebrew and Greek words for spikenard could have referred to a variety of substances from a variety of plants. Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) takes the New Testament spikenard to be the same as the Old Testament one, namely Nardostachys jatamansi from India. Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants: Flowers and Trees, Fruits and Vegetables, Ecology. Baker Book House, 1992) doubts the Indian origin of most biblical spices and suggests that the references in Song of Songs may be to the Camel Grass Cymbopogon schoenanthus, which grows in the deserts of Arabia and North Africa. Assyrians called it lardu. However, if the writing of Song of Songs is late, the Indian origin of spikenard mentioned there is quite possible. The Greek expression nardos pistikos in Mark 14:3 and John 12:3 is rendered “pure nard” by New Revised Standard Version, updated edition, but the meaning of pistikos is debatable. It may in fact come from the Sanskritpicita, the local name of the spikenard plant. In Arabic spikenard is called sunbul Hindi (“Indian spike”).
The spikenard plant is a leafy bush less than a meter (3 feet) high, with fragrant-smelling, short stems and a tuft of three narrow leaflets at the tip of each stem. The pink flowers are umbrella-shaped. The rhizomes (tubers) are pounded to extract pungent, pale orange or yellow oil.
The two references to spikenard in Song of Songs 4:13 and 4:14 are metaphorical, the bride being referred to as a luxurious garden or park filled with all kinds of lovely spice plants and trees. The spikenard there is mentioned first in the plural in Hebrew, paired with a plural form of henna, as though they are plants or trees, or perhaps the fruit of trees. Then its singular form is paired with saffron, followed by calamus and cinnamon. Spikenard was a luxury item in ancient Egypt, the Near East, and Rome. A Chinese medical text written around 1100 A.D. notes the calming effect of spikenard incense. It is still used in incense sticks (senko) in China and as a medicine. It is also used in Japan as an ingredient of the incense used in the Plum Blossom Festival. In John 12:3 spikenard is cited as the “costly perfume” used by Mary, the sister of Lazarus, to anoint Jesus.
For the metaphorical references in Song of Songs a cultural equivalent of spikenard is appropriate. The references in Mark and John are of course non-rhetorical and should be translated with a local name for spikenard where possible or transliterated where translators feel it is important to be concordant throughout. A transliteration such as “naridi” is recommended.
The different Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “(olive) oil” and “(animal) fat” in English are translated in Kwere with only one term: mavuta. (Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
