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Mark 14:2-5
The Message
Mark 14:2-5
The Message
Anointing His Head
14 1-2 In only two days the eight-day Festival of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread would begin. The high priests and religion scholars were looking for a way they could seize Jesus by stealth and kill him. They agreed that it should not be done during Passover Week. “We don’t want the crowds up in arms,” they said.
3-5 Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper. While he was eating dinner, a woman came up carrying a bottle of very expensive perfume. Opening the bottle, she poured it on his head. Some of the guests became furious among themselves. “That’s criminal! A sheer waste! This perfume could have been sold for well over a year’s wages and handed out to the poor.” They swelled up in anger, nearly bursting with indignation over her.
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Mark 14:2-4
New International Version
Mark 14:2-4
New International Version
2 “But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.”
3 While he was in Bethany,(A) reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.(B)
4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume?
Mark 14:2-4
New King James Version
Mark 14:2-4
New King James Version
2 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people.”
The Anointing at Bethany(A)
3 (B)And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly [a]oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. 4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted?
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- Mark 14:3 Perfume of pure nard
Mark 14:2-4
English Standard Version
Mark 14:2-4
English Standard Version
2 for they said, “Not during the feast, (A)lest there be an uproar from the people.”
Jesus Anointed at Bethany
3 (B)And while he was at (C)Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,[a] as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that?
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- Mark 14:3 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
English Standard Version (ESV) 
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.