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.^(A)

The Anointing at Bethany

³ While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,^[a] as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.^{(A) 4} But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? ⁵ For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. ⁶ But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. ⁷ For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish, but you will not always have me.^{(B) 8} She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.^{(C) 9} Truly I tell you, wherever the good news^[b] is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”

² Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.^(A)

Jesus Visits Martha and Mary

³⁸ Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him.^{[a](A) 39} She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus’s^[b] feet and listened to what he was saying.^(B)

³⁷ And a woman in the city who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. ³⁸ She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair, kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.

The Anointing at Bethany

⁶ Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,^{[a](A) 7} a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. ⁸ But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste? ⁹ For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum and the money given to the poor.” ¹⁰ But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. ¹¹ For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.^{(B) 12} By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial.^{(C) 13} Truly I tell you, wherever this good news^[b] is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”

⁴⁶ You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.^(A)

³² When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”^(A)

Jesus Weeps

²⁸ When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”