⁸ She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.^(A)

¹² For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has,^(A) not according to what one does not have.

⁷ “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.^(A)

The Collection for the Lord’s People

8 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian^(A) churches. ² In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.^{(B) 3} For I testify that they gave as much as they were able,^(C) and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own,

³² The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.^{(A) 33} But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced^(B) Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.^{(C) 35} The man who saw it^(D) has given testimony, and his testimony is true.^(E) He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. ³⁶ These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled:^(F) “Not one of his bones will be broken,”^{[a](G) 37} and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”^[b](H)

The Burial of Jesus^(I)

³⁸ Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders.^(J) With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. ³⁹ He was accompanied by Nicodemus,^(K) the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.^{[c] 40} Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen.^(L) This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.^{(M) 41} At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴² Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation^(N) and since the tomb was nearby,^(O) they laid Jesus there.

⁵³ Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. ⁵⁴ It was Preparation Day,^(A) and the Sabbath was about to begin.

⁵⁵ The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee^(B) followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. ⁵⁶ Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes.^(C) But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.^(D)

Jesus Has Risen^(E)

24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared^(F) and went to the tomb. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.^(G)

The Burial of Jesus^(A)

⁴² It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath).^(B) So as evening approached, ⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council,^(C) who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God,^(D) went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. ⁴⁴ Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. ⁴⁵ When he learned from the centurion^(E) that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶ So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.^{(F) 47} Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph^(G) saw where he was laid.

Jesus Has Risen^(H)

16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices^(I) so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body.

¹⁹ When the king heard the words of the Law,^(A) he tore^(B) his robes. ²⁰ He gave these orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan^(C), Abdon son of Micah,^[a] Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: ²¹ “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out^(D) on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the Lord; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.”

²² Hilkiah and those the king had sent with him^[b] went to speak to the prophet^(E) Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath,^[c] the son of Hasrah,^[d] keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New Quarter.

²³ She said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, ²⁴ ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to bring disaster^(F) on this place and its people^(G)—all the curses^(H) written in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah. ²⁵ Because they have forsaken me^(I) and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all that their hands have made,^[e] my anger will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.’ ²⁶ Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: ²⁷ Because your heart was responsive^(J) and you humbled^(K) yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord. ²⁸ Now I will gather you to your ancestors,^(L) and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place and on those who live here.’”^(M)

So they took her answer back to the king.

²⁹ Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ He went up to the temple of the Lord^(N) with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. ³¹ The king stood by his pillar^(O) and renewed the covenant^(P) in the presence of the Lord—to follow^(Q) the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book.

³² Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

³³ Josiah removed all the detestable^(R) idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

²⁰ This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful^(A) before the Lord his God. ²¹ In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.^(B)