Mark 14:1-11

Contemporary English Version

A Plot To Kill Jesus

(Matthew 26.1-5; Luke 22.1,2; John 11.45-53)

14 ^(A) It was now two days before Passover and the Festival of Thin Bread. The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses were planning how they could sneak around and have Jesus arrested and put to death. ² They were saying, “We must not do it during the festival, because the people will riot.”

At Bethany

(Matthew 26.6-13; John 12.1-8)

^3 (B) Jesus was eating in Bethany at the home of Simon, who once had leprosy,^[a] when a woman came in with a very expensive bottle of sweet-smelling perfume.^[b] After breaking it open, she poured the perfume on Jesus' head. ⁴ This made some of the guests angry, and they complained, “Why such a waste? ⁵ We could have sold this perfume for more than 300 silver coins and given the money to the poor!” So they started saying cruel things to the woman.

⁶ But Jesus said:

Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me. ^7 (C) You will always have the poor with you. And whenever you want to, you can give to them. But you won't always have me here with you. ⁸ She has done all she could by pouring perfume on my body to prepare it for burial. ⁹ You may be sure that wherever the good news is told all over the world, people will remember what she has done. And they will tell others.

Judas and the Chief Priests

(Matthew 26.14-16; Luke 22.3-6)

¹⁰ Judas Iscariot^[c] was one of the twelve disciples. He went to the chief priests and offered to help them arrest Jesus. ¹¹ They were glad to hear this, and they promised to pay him. So Judas started looking for a good chance to betray Jesus.