Add parallel Print Page Options

A Woman Anoints Jesus(A)

While Jesus[a] was in Bethany sitting at the table in the home of Simon the leper, a woman arrived with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume made from pure nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Irritated, some who were there asked one another, “Why was the perfume wasted like this? This perfume could have been sold for more than 300 denarii[b] and the money[c] given to the destitute.” So they got extremely angry with her.

But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me, because you’ll always have the destitute with you and can help them whenever you want, but you won’t always have me. She has done what she could. She poured perfume on my body in preparation for my burial. I tell all of you[d] with certainty, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Mark 14:3 Lit. he
  2. Mark 14:5 A denarius was the average day’s wage for a laborer.
  3. Mark 14:5 The Gk. lacks the money
  4. Mark 14:9 The Gk. pronoun you is pl.

Mary Anoints Jesus(A)

12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived in Bethany, where Lazarus lived,[a] the man whom Jesus had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a litron[b] of very expensive perfume made of pure nard and anointed Jesus’ feet. She wiped his feet with her hair, and the house became filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was going to betray him, asked, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for 300 denarii[c] and the money[d] given to the destitute?” He said this, not because he cared about the destitute, but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the moneybag and would steal what was put into it.

Then Jesus said, “Leave her alone so she can observe the day of my burial, because you will always have the destitute with you, but you won’t always have me.”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. John 12:1 Lit. was
  2. John 12:3 I.e. about twelve ounces; the Gk. litron weighed about 12 ounces
  3. John 12:5 Three hundred denarii was about a year’s wages for a laborer.
  4. John 12:5 The Gk. lacks the money