G2708
καταχέω
to pour down (out)
Transliteration
katachéōPronunciation
(kat-akh-eh'-o)Everything you need to know.
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to pour down (out)
καταχέω(katachéō)
Strong’s Definition
to pour down (out)
from G2596 (κατά) and cheo (to pour);
“There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.”
No verses found containing this word study ID.
The Pouring That Cannot Be Contained
Only twice does the Holy Spirit cause this verb to appear in the New Testament, yet those two occurrences hold the weight of heaven itself. The word katachéō — to pour down, to pour out upon — carries in its very sound the splashing of abundance, the sound of something costly being given without reserve. In the Greek tongue, this is no gentle trickle; it is an action of deliberate lavishness, a pouring that expects nothing back. The first time we encounter this verb, a woman stands in the house of Simon the leper, and she holds in her hands an alabaster flask of pure nard, very precious. She breaks the seal, and she pours — she katachéō — the entire contents upon the head of Yeshua. The fragrance fills the room, and the complaint of the disciples fills the air. But the Master sees what they cannot: that this pouring is not waste, but worship. Every drop of that ointment becomes a prophecy of His burial, an anointing before the anointing, a foretaste of the extravagance that the Kingdom requires.The Grammar of Abandonment
When the inspired writers chose the aorist tense for this verb in Matthew 26:7 and Mark 14:3, they chose the form that speaks of a completed action, a single event with enduring consequences. The woman did not pour a little and save some for later. The aorist of katachéō captures the moment when her hand tipped the flask and did not stop until it was empty. There is no middle voice here — she does not pour for her own benefit. There is no passive voice — she is not acted upon. She is the agent of her own costly devotion. The early church fathers, meditating upon this scene, saw in her action a living parable of what faith must be: not a measured offering, but a total outpouring. The apostolic tradition teaches that this woman's name is preserved in the gospel because her deed revealed the very heart of discipleship — that when we encounter the Messiah, we hold nothing back. The grammar itself becomes a sermon: the action is complete, the cost is counted, and the fragrance remains forever.From Sinai to the Alabaster Flask
The Septuagint reveals a profound bridge when this Greek verb translates the Hebrew yatsaq — the same word used when Jacob poured oil upon the stone at Bethel, when the anointing oil was poured upon Aaron's head, when the drink offering was poured out before the Lord. In Genesis 28:18, Jacob takes the stone that was his pillow, sets it up as a pillar, and yatsaq — he pours oil upon its top. That pouring was a consecration, a marking of holy ground. The rabbis of old observed that every pouring in the Torah speaks of setting something apart for God. When the woman pours her nard upon Yeshua, she is continuing this ancient tradition — but with a difference: she pours not upon a stone, not upon a priest, but upon the living Temple, the very presence of God in flesh. Jewish tradition holds that the anointing oil of the sanctuary was never to be poured upon ordinary flesh, yet here it is poured upon the One who is both ordinary and extraordinary, both man and Messiah. The bridge between the testaments is not merely linguistic — it is sacramental.The Cost That the Disciples Could Not Count
The second occurrence of katachéō appears in the parallel account of the same event, and here the tension sharpens. In Mark 14:3-4, we read that some of those present spoke indignantly among themselves: "Why was this waste of the ointment made?" The word they use for waste is itself a pouring out — but a pouring they consider foolish, excessive, unnecessary. How often do the disciples of Yeshua calculate the cost of devotion and find it too high? The rabbis of old taught that the truly righteous do not count the cost when the honor of God is at stake. The woman does not ask permission. She does not take a collection. She does not calculate how much could have been sold and given to the poor. She simply pours. And Yeshua defends her with words that echo through every generation: "She has done what she could." The apostolic faith has always understood that the measure of our love for Messiah is not what we keep, but what we pour out. The poor will always be with us, Yeshua said — but the opportunity to pour out upon Him is given only in this moment, in this flesh, in this life.Where the Septuagint Meets the Gospel
When the translators of the Septuagint chose katachéō to render the Hebrew nasakh — the pouring out of drink offerings — they created a theological echo that the New Testament writers heard clearly. In Genesis 35:14, Jacob pours a drink offering upon the pillar at Bethel, and the word in the Greek is katachéō. In Exodus 29:7, Moses takes the anointing oil and pours it upon Aaron's head, and again the Greek is katachéō. Every anointing of priest and king in the Hebrew Scriptures is captured by this verb. But the woman at Bethany does something unprecedented: she pours the anointing oil upon the head of the Anointed One Himself, upon the Messiah who needs no anointing from human hands because He is the source of all anointing. Yet He receives it. He accepts the extravagance. The early church understood that this pouring was a fulfillment of the psalmist's cry: "You have anointed my head with oil; my cup runs over." The cup of Messiah's suffering was already filling, and this woman's poured-out nard was a prelude to His poured-out blood. The drink offering of the old covenant becomes the outpouring of the new.Yeshua, the Poured-Out One
The Messianic fulfillment of katachéō is not found only in what was poured upon Yeshua, but in what He Himself became. The apostolic writers use a different Greek verb — ekcheō — to describe the pouring out of His blood for the remission of sins, but the spiritual reality is the same. The woman's alabaster flask was a prophecy of the cross. Just as she poured out the precious ointment without reservation, so the Messiah poured out His soul unto death. Isaiah 53:12 declares that He poured out His soul — the Hebrew arah — meaning to empty, to lay bare, to pour out completely. The Greek translators of the Septuagint rendered this with paradidōmi, but the substance is identical: the Messiah became the poured-out One. The woman's act of devotion was not merely beautiful; it was prophetic. She anointed His body for burial before He had died, and in doing so, she participated in the mystery of His self-emptying. The early church fathers saw in her alabaster flask a type of the church itself — a vessel broken open so that its contents might flow forth for the world.The Fragrance That Fills the World
Yeshua declared that wherever the gospel is preached throughout the whole world, what this woman has done will be told in memory of her. This is a staggering promise — that a single act of poured-out devotion would echo through all of history. The apostolic faith teaches that every act of costly love performed for the Messiah becomes part of the eternal fragrance that fills the earth. The woman's name may be lost to history, but her deed is inscribed in the gospel itself. The rabbis of old taught that the incense of the sanctuary had a fragrance that could be smelled from afar, and that it represented the prayers of Israel ascending to heaven. But this woman's nard created a fragrance that has not faded after two thousand years. Every time a believer pours out their life in service, in worship, in sacrifice, they join that ancient woman at Bethany. Every time you give what you cannot afford to keep, you become part of her story. The fragrance of her devotion has not dissipated — it has only grown stronger with the centuries.Your Alabaster Flask Awaits
And now the question comes to you, beloved reader. What is your alabaster flask? What costly thing are you holding back, calculating whether it is too much to pour upon the feet of Messiah? The woman did not pour out her nard after checking the budget. She did not wait until the price had dropped. She did not ask what others would think. She saw her Lord, and she poured. The early church understood that this is the only proper response to the presence of Yeshua — not measured giving, but total abandonment. The sages of Israel taught that the heart of worship is not the gift but the giving, not the quantity but the surrender. You have been given a life, a treasure, a precious alabaster flask of days and years and resources. The question is not whether you will pour it out, but upon whom. The Master is before you. The fragrance is ready. Break the seal. Let it flow. Do not hold back. The world will call it waste, but heaven will call it worship. Pour, and let the fragrance of your devotion fill the house of the Lord forever.