1
It was now two days before the Festival of Passover and Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the teachers of the Law were looking for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and put him to death. 1
2
"We must not do it during the festival," they said, "or the people might riot."
3
Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, a man who had suffered from a dreaded skin disease. While Jesus was eating, a woman came in with an alabaster jar full of a very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on Jesus' head. 2
4
Some of the people there became angry and said to one another, "What was the use of wasting the perfume?
5
It could have been sold for more than three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor!" And they criticized her harshly.
6
But Jesus said, "Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a fine and beautiful thing for me.