The Plot to Kill Jesus

⁴⁵ Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him.^{(A) 46} But some of them went to the Pharisees^(B) and told them what Jesus had done.

⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin^(C) and were saying, “What are we going to do since this man is doing many signs? ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans^(D) will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

⁴⁹ One of them, Caiaphas,^(E) who was high priest^(F) that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰ You’re not considering that it is to your^[a] advantage that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish.”^{(G) 51} He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die^(H) for the nation, ⁵² and not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children^(I) of God. ⁵³ So from that day on they plotted to kill him.^(J)

⁵⁴ Jesus therefore no longer walked openly^(K) among the Jews but departed from there to the countryside near the wilderness,^(L) to a town called Ephraim, and he stayed there with the disciples.

⁵⁵ Now the Jewish Passover^(M) was near, and many went up to Jerusalem^(N) from the country to purify themselves before the Passover. ⁵⁶ They were looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple,^(O) “What do you think? He won’t come to the festival,^(P) will he?” ⁵⁷ The chief priests^(Q) and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it so that they could arrest him.

The Anointing at Bethany

12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany^(A) where Lazarus^[a] was, the one Jesus had raised from the dead.^{(B) 2} So^(C) they gave a dinner for him there; Martha^(D) was serving them, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him. ³ Then Mary took a pound of perfume, pure and expensive nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped his feet with her hair.^(E) So the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴ Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot^(F) (who was about to betray him), said, ⁵ “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii^[b](G) and given to the poor?” ⁶ He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief.^(H) He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it.

⁷ Jesus answered, “Leave her alone; she has kept it for the day of my burial.^{(I) 8} For you always have the poor with you,^(J) but you do not always have me.”

The Decision to Kill Lazarus

⁹ Then a large crowd of the Jews learned he was there. They came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, the one he had raised from the dead.^{(K) 10} But the chief priests had decided to kill Lazarus also, ¹¹ because he was the reason many of the Jews were deserting them^[c] and believing in Jesus.