Mary Anoints Jesus

12 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.^{(A) 2} There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him.^{(B) 3} Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped them^[a] with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.^{(C) 4} But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ⁵ “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” ⁶ (He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) ⁷ Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it^[b] so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.^{(D) 8} You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”^(E)

⁷ “If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor.^{(A) 8} You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be.^{(B) 9} Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility and give nothing; your neighbor^[a] might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt.^{(C) 10} Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.^{(D) 11} Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’^(E)