Greek word · G3464

μύρον

myron

ointment

Scented oil or ointment: olive oil or another base infused with aromatics. It covered liquid perfumes and thicker salves. It was a luxury product used for festive grooming, honouring guests, lovemaking (Song of Songs), funerals and preparing bodies for burial.

Appears 13 times in 12 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated November 01, 2026

What it means

μύρον, -ου, τό

[in LXX chiefly for שֶׁמֶן, Proverbs 27:9, Psalms 133:2, al. ;]

ointment: Matthew 26:7, 12, Mark 14:3-5, Luke 7:37-38, 46 23:56, John 11:2 12:3, 5, Revelation 18:13.†

SYN.: ἔλαιον, q.v (AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of John 12:3

Range of meaning: Scented oil or ointment: olive oil or another base infused with aromatics. It covered liquid perfumes and thicker salves. It was a luxury product used for festive grooming, honouring guests, lovemaking (Song of Songs), funerals and preparing bodies for burial.
Against the English: KJV/WEB 'ointment' suggests to modern ears a medicinal cream. BSB/NASB 'perfume' captures the luxury but can suggest a few drops from a modern bottle. Neither tells you this was scented oil meant to be rubbed into the skin.
How it drifted: 'Ointment' was the normal Early Modern English word for perfumed oils. It later narrowed to medicinal creams.
Used elsewhere in the period: The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) uses myron for fine perfumes, for example Song 1:3 and Prov 27:9. Jesus in Luke 7:46 contrasts plain oil (elaion) on the head with myron on the feet. Greek and Roman writers such as Pliny (Natural History, book 13) list myron among the luxury perfumes.

From the study of John 12:5

Range of meaning: Perfumed oil or liquid unguent: an aromatic (nard, myrrh, balsam and others) steeped in or mixed with oil, kept in sealed flasks. It was used for personal fragrance, for honouring guests, at banquets and in preparing the dead for burial.
Against the English: KJV/WEB 'ointment' suggests to modern ears a thick medicinal cream. BSB/NIV 'perfume' gets the luxury right but can suggest an alcohol-based scent. 'Fragrant oil' or 'perfumed oil' is closest.
How it drifted: In 1611 'ointment' still meant any anointing substance, including precious perfumed oils. Since then it has narrowed to pharmacy salves.
Used elsewhere in the period: In the Septuagint, μύρον is used for fine perfumes (e.g. Song 1:3; Prov 27:9). In the Gospels it is used of the Bethany anointing (Mark 14:3–5; Matt 26:7–12) and of the women's burial spices (Luke 23:56). Pliny the Elder (Natural History 12.42–43) treats nard, which was imported from the Himalayan region via India, as one of the most expensive aromatics of his day.

From the study of Luke 7:37

Range of meaning: Perfumed oil or ointment: olive or other oil infused with aromatics such as nard, myrrh or balsam. It was used for honouring guests, for festive grooming, for burial, and as a luxury good.
Against the English: 'Perfume' (BSB, NIV, NLT) may suggest a modern alcohol-based scent sprayed on the skin. 'Ointment' (KJV, WEB, ESV) keeps the sense that it was an oil, rubbed on, which is what 'anoint' in v.38 requires.
How it drifted: Mild: modern perfume is a different product.
Used elsewhere in the period: LXX uses it for fragrant oils (Song 1:3; Prov 27:9). In Luke 23:56 the women prepare spices and myra for Jesus' body. Greek banquet literature mentions myron offered to guests.

Where it appears

Matthew · 2

Matthew 26:7 μύρου of fragrant oil

a woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, which she poured on His head as He reclined at the table.
Matthew 26:12 μύρον fragrant oil

By pouring this perfume on Me, she has prepared My body for burial.

Mark · 2

Mark 14:3 μύρου of fragrant oil

While Jesus was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke open the jar and poured it on Jesus’ head.

Here: Scented oil: an oil base infused with aromatics. It was a luxury product, distinct from the ordinary olive oil (elaion) used for everyday grooming and hospitality (compare Luke 7:46).
Mark 14:4 μύρου fragrant oil

Some of those present, however, expressed their indignation to one another: “Why this waste of perfume?

Luke · 4

Luke 7:37 μύρου of fragrant oil

When a sinful woman from that town learned that Jesus was dining there, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume.

Here: Scented oil or ointment, more costly than plain olive oil. Jesus draws exactly this contrast in v.46: 'you did not anoint my head with oil (elaion), but she anointed my feet with myron.'
Luke 7:38 μύρῳ. fragrant oil.

As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. Then she kissed His feet and anointed them with the perfume.

Here: Costly perfumed oil. In 7:46 Jesus contrasts it with plain olive oil (elaion): Simon gave no ordinary oil even for his head, while she poured luxury perfume on his feet.
Luke 7:46 μύρῳ with fragrant oil

You did not anoint My head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with perfume.
Luke 23:56 μύρα anointing oils

Then they returned to prepare spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath, according to the commandment.

Here: Perfumed oil or ointment rubbed onto the body. Together with the spices it names the full set of materials for anointing a corpse. It is not perfume for personal wear.

John · 4

John 11:2 μύρῳ with fragrant oil

(Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was to anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feet with her hair.)

Here: Costly scented oil, not medicine. John 12:3 says it was a pound of pure nard worth about a year's wages.
John 12:3 μύρου μύρου. of fragrant oil, oil.

Then Mary took about a pint of expensive perfume, made of pure nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Here: Scented oil or perfume, a luxury product. It is not plain olive oil (elaion). It was used for festive grooming, for honoured guests and for preparing the dead.
John 12:5 μύρον fragrant oil

“Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”

Here: Liquid perfume made of an aromatic in an oil base. Here it is imported nard, a luxury item, not a medicinal salve.

Revelation · 1

Revelation 18:13 μύρον myrrh

of cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; of wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; of cattle, sheep, horses, and carriages; of bodies and souls of slaves.

Here: Scented oil or ointment, the finished perfume product, like the flask poured on Jesus in Mark 14:3. It is not specifically myrrh, which Greek calls smyrna.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.