And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath wetted my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair.

And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon: Dost thou see this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she with tears hath washed my feet, and with her hairs hath wiped them.

And turning to the woman he said to Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house; thou gavest me not water on my feet, but she has washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with her hair.

And having turned unto the woman, he said to Simon, 'Seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house; water for my feet thou didst not give, but this woman with tears did wet my feet, and with the hairs of her head did wipe;

And he turned to the woman, and said to Simon, See you this woman? I entered into your house, you gave me no water for my feet: but she has washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

Then turning towards the woman He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house: you gave me no water for my feet; but she has made my feet wet with her tears, and then wiped the tears away with her hair.

And turning to the woman he said to Simon, You see this woman? I came into your house; you did not give me water for my feet: but she has been washing my feet with the drops from her eyes, and drying them with her hair.

Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, 'Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair.

And turning to the woman, he said to Simon: "Do you see this woman? I entered into your house. You gave me no water for my feet. But she has washed my feet with tears, and has wiped them with her hair.

And turning to the woman. The Lord appears to compare Simon with the woman, in such a manner as to make him chargeable with nothing more than light offenses. But this is spoken only in the way of concession. "Suppose now, Simon," he says, "that the guilt from which God discharges thee was light, [1] and that this woman has been guilty of many and very heinous offenses. Yet you see how she proves by the effect that she has obtained pardon. For what mean those profuse tears, those frequent kisses of the feet, that precious ointment? What mean they but to acknowledge, that she had been weighed down by an enormous burden of condemnation? And now she regards the mercy of God with fervor of love proportioned to her conviction that her necessity had been great." From the words of Christ, therefore, we are not at liberty to infer, that Simon had been a debtor to a small amount, or that he was absolved from guilt. [2] It is more probable that, as he was a blind hypocrite, he was still plunged in the filth of his sins. But Christ insists on this single point, that, however wicked the woman may have been, she gave undoubted proofs of her righteousness, by leaving no kind of duty undone to testify her gratitude, and by acknowledging, in every possible way, her vast obligations to God. At the same time, Christ reminds Simon, that he has no right to flatter himself, as if he were free from all blame; for that he too needed mercy; and that if even he does not obtain the favor of God without pardon, he ought to look upon this woman's gifts, whatever might have been her former sins, as evidences of repentance and gratitude. We must attend to the points of contrast, in which the woman is preferred to Simon. She moistened his feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head; while he did not even order water to be given, according to custom. She did not cease to kiss his feet, while he did not deign to receive Christ with the kiss of hospitality. [3] She poured precious ointment on his feet, while he did not even anoint his head with oil. But why did our Lord, who was a model of frugality and economy, permit the expense of the ointment? It was because, in this way, the wretched sinner testified that she owed all to him. He had no desire of such luxuries, was not gratified by the sweet odor, and did not approve of gaudy dress. But he looked only at her extraordinary zeal to testify her repentance, which is also held out to us by Luke as an example; for her sorrow, which is the commencement of repentance, was proved by her tears. By placing herself at Christ's feet behind him, and there lying on the ground, she discovered her modesty and humility. By the ointment, she declared that she offered, as a sacrifice to Christ, herself and all that she possessed. Every one of these things it is our duty to imitate; but the pouring of the ointment was an extraordinary act, which it would be improper to consider as a rule. [4]

Footnotes

1 - "Mettons le cas, Simon, que le fardeau des pechez, desquels Dieu t'a descharge fust petit;" -- "let us put the case, Simon, that the burden of the sins, from which God has discharged thee, was small."

2 - "Et s'il avoit este absous de la condamnation qu'il avoit encourue;" --"and if he had been absolved from the condemnation which he had incurred."

3 - "En lieu que l'autre n'a pas mesme daigne le baiser par une facon commune de civilite;" -- "whereas the other did not even deign to kiss him, according to an ordinary custom of civility."

4 - "A este un acte special et extraordinaire, duquel si on vouloit faire une reigle generale, ce seroit un abus;" -- "was a special and extraordinary act, of which, if we wished to make a general rule, it would be a mistake."

Seest thou this woman? - You see what this woman has done to me, compared with what you have done. She has shown me expressions of regard which you, in your own house, have not shown.
I entered into thine house - I came at your invitation, where I might expect all the usual rites of hospitality.
Thou gavest me no water for my feet - Among Eastern people it was customary, before eating, to wash the feet; and to do this, or to bring water for it, was one of the rites of hospitality. See Genesis 18:4; Judges 19:21. The reasons for this were, that they wore "sandals," which covered only the bottom of the feet, and that when they ate they reclined on couches or sofas. It became therefore necessary that the feet should be often washed.

Thou gavest me no water - In this respect Simon was sadly deficient in civil respect, whether this proceeded from forgetfulness or contempt. The custom of giving water to wash the guest's feet was very ancient. See instances in Genesis 18:4; Genesis 24:32; Judges 19:21; 1-Samuel 25:41. In Hindoostan it is the custom, that when a superior enters the house of an inferior, the latter washes his feet, and gives him water to rinse his mouth before he eats. See Ayeen Akbery, vol. iii. p. 226.

And he turned to the woman,.... That stood behind him at his feet,
and said to Simon, seest thou this woman? and what she has done? pointing to her, and comparing him, and her, and their actions together, whereby he might judge of the preceding parable, and how fitly it might be applied to the present case:
I entered into thine house; not of his own accord, but by the invitation of Simon, and therefore might have expected the usual civilities:
thou gavest me no water for my feet: to wash them with, no, not so much as water; a civility very common in those hot countries, where walking without stockings, and only with sandals, they needed often washing; and which was very refreshing, and was not only used to travellers and strangers, but to guests, and was usually done by the servants of the house; See Gill on Luke 7:38.
but she hath washed my feet with tears. The Persic version reads, "with the tears of her eyes"; which made a bath for his feet;
and wiped them with the hairs of her head. The Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read only, "with her hair", which she used instead of a towel, when Simon neither gave him water to wash with, nor a towel to wipe with.

I entered . . . no water--a compliment to guests. Was this "much love?" Was it any?

I entered into thine house. How strong the contrast between the indifference of the Pharisees and the earnestness of the penitent! He withheld water; she gave precious tears, "the blood of her heart," says Augustine. He gave no kiss to his cheek; she covered his feet with kisses. He grudged even a drop of oil; she broke the box of rare ointment for her Lord. He treated him with despite as an underling; she adored him as a prince. The water for the feet, the kiss and the oil for the head were ordinary Oriental courtesies.

Thou gavest me no water - It was customary with the Jews to show respect and kindness to their welcome guests, by saluting them with a kiss, by washing their feet, and anointing their heads with oil, or some fine ointment.