Jesus Anointed at Bethany^(A)(B)

⁶ While Jesus was in Bethany^(C) in the home of Simon the Leper, ⁷ a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

⁸ When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. ⁹ “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰ Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ¹¹ The poor you will always have with you,^[a](D) but you will not always have me. ¹² When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.^{(E) 13} Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman^(A)

²¹ When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake,^(B) a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake.^{(C) 22} Then one of the synagogue leaders,^(D) named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. ²³ He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on^(E) her so that she will be healed and live.” ²⁴ So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. ²⁵ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding^(F) for twelve years. ²⁶ She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. ²⁷ When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸ because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes,^(G) I will be healed.” ²⁹ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.^(H)

³⁰ At once Jesus realized that power^(I) had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹ “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

³² But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. ³³ Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. ³⁴ He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.^(J) Go in peace^(K) and be freed from your suffering.”

³⁵ While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader.^(L) “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

³⁶ Overhearing^[a] what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

³⁷ He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James.^{(M) 38} When they came to the home of the synagogue leader,^(N) Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. ³⁹ He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”^{(O) 40} But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. ⁴¹ He took her by the hand^(P) and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).^{(Q) 42} Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. ⁴³ He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this,^(R) and told them to give her something to eat.

¹¹ He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.^{(A) 12} And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”^(B)

⁴⁰ Some women were watching from a distance.^(A) Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph,^[a] and Salome.^{(B) 41} In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.^(C)

⁴⁷ Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph^(A) saw where he was laid.

At the Home of Martha and Mary

³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha^(A) opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary,^(B) who sat at the Lord’s feet^(C) listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care^(D) that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried^(E) and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one.^[a](F) Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman on the Sabbath

¹⁰ On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,^{(A) 11} and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years.^(B) She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” ¹³ Then he put his hands on her,^(C) and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

¹⁴ Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath,^(D) the synagogue leader^(E) said to the people, “There are six days for work.^(F) So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

¹⁵ The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?^{(G) 16} Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham,^(H) whom Satan^(I) has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

¹⁷ When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated,^(J) but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

¹⁰ It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them^(A) who told this to the apostles.^{(B) 11} But they did not believe^(C) the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”^{(A) 8} (His disciples had gone into the town^(B) to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan^(C) woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.^[a])

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”^(D)

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well^(E) and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.^(F) Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water^(G) welling up to eternal life.”^(H)

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty^(I) and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.^{(J) 20} Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,^(K) but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”^(L)

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming^(M) when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.^{(N) 22} You Samaritans worship what you do not know;^(O) we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.^{(P) 23} Yet a time is coming and has now come^(Q) when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit^(R) and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit,^(S) and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ)^(T) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”^(U)

The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

²⁷ Just then his disciples returned^(V) and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.^(W) Could this be the Messiah?”^{(X) 30} They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

³¹ Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi,^(Y) eat something.”

³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat^(Z) that you know nothing about.”

³³ Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

³⁴ “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will^(AA) of him who sent me and to finish his work.^{(AB) 35} Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.^{(AC) 36} Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests^(AD) a crop for eternal life,^(AE) so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷ Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’^(AF) is true. ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Many Samaritans Believe

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town^(AG) believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”^{(AH) 40} So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers.

⁴² They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”^(AI)