for holding oil or perfumery ( Mark 14:3 ). It was of the form of a flask or bottle. The Hebrew word (pak) used for it is more appropriately rendered "vial" in 1 Samuel 10:1 , and should also be so rendered in 2 Kings 9:1 , where alone else it occurs.
The passages in which this word occurs are 2 Kings 9:1,3 (Hebrew pakh, "cruet," "flask," the Revised Version (British and American) vial) and the synoptic passages Matthew 26:7 the King James Version; Mark 14:3 the King James Version; Luke 7:37 the King James Version (Greek alabastron). "Perfume-boxes" are mentioned in Isaiah 3:20; in the New Testament passages the Revised Version (British and American) renders "alabaster cruse." "Alabaster" was a white stone much used in ornamentation; and out of it small vessels we re made for holding precious ointment. "She brake the cruse" (Mark 14:3), i.e. the seal, not the vessel.
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