Jesus’ Anointing at Bethany

³ And while^[a] he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as^[b] he was reclining for a meal, a woman came holding an alabaster flask of very costly perfumed oil of genuine nard. After^[c] breaking the alabaster flask, she poured it^[d] out on his head. ⁴ But some were expressing indignation to one another:^[e] “Why has there been this waste of perfumed oil? ⁵ For this perfumed oil could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor!” And they began to scold^[f] her. ⁶ But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you cause trouble for her? She has done a good deed to me. ⁷ For the poor you always have with you, and you can do good for them whenever you want, but you do not always have me. ⁸ She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand^[g] for burial. ⁹ And truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.