⁸ She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.^(A)

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

⁷ Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it^[a] so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.^(A)

Encouragement to Be Generous

8 We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia, ² for during a severe ordeal of affliction their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. ³ For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means and even beyond their means,

³² Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him.^{(A) 33} But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.^{(B) 35} (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows^[a] that he tells the truth, so that you also may continue^[b] to believe.)^{(C) 36} These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, “None of his bones shall be broken.”^{(D) 37} And again another passage of scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”^(E)

The Burial of Jesus

³⁸ After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he came and removed his body. ³⁹ Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds.^{(F) 40} They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews.^{(G) 41} Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴² And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

⁵³ Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. ⁵⁴ It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning.^{[a](A) 55} The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid.^{(B) 56} Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.

On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.^(C)

The Resurrection of Jesus

24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared.^{(D) 2} They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they went in they did not find the body.^[b]

The Burial of Jesus

⁴² When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath,^{(A) 43} Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.^{(B) 44} Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead, and summoning the centurion he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. ⁴⁵ When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph.^{(C) 46} Then Joseph^[a] bought a linen cloth and, taking down the body,^[b] wrapped it in the linen cloth and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. ⁴⁷ Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body^[c] was laid.

The Resurrection of Jesus

16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.^(D)

¹⁹ When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes.^{(A) 20} Then the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, the secretary Shaphan, and the king’s servant Asaiah, ²¹ “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found, for the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us is great, because our ancestors did not keep the word of the Lord, to act in accordance with all that is written in this book.”^(B)

The Prophet Huldah Consulted

²² So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to the prophet Huldah, the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (who lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter) and spoke to her to that effect.^{(C) 23} She declared to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me: ²⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord: I will indeed bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah.^{(D) 25} Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked me to anger with all the works of their hands, my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.’^{(E) 26} But as to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Regarding the words that you have heard, ²⁷ because your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the Lord.^{(F) 28} I will gather you to your ancestors and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place and its inhabitants.’ ” They took the message back to the king.

The Covenant Renewed

²⁹ Then the king sent word and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.^{(G) 30} The king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small; he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord.^{(H) 31} The king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.^{(I) 32} Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin pledge themselves to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem acted according to the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors. ³³ Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were in Israel serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the Lord the God of their ancestors.^(J)

²⁰ Hezekiah did this throughout all Judah; he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God.^{(A) 21} And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, to seek his God, he did with all his heart, and he prospered.