Matthew 26:1-13

The Chief Priests and Elders Plot to Kill Jesus

1 And it happened that when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples,

2 "You know that after two days the Passover takes place, and the Son of Man will be handed over in order to be crucified."

3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas,

4 and plotted in order that they could arrest Jesus by stealth and kill [him].

5 But they were saying, "Not during the feast, so that there will not be an uproar among the people."

Jesus’ Anointing at Bethany

6 Now [while] Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,

7 a woman came up to him holding an alabaster flask of very expensive perfumed oil, and poured [it] out on his head [while he] was reclining at table.

8 And [when] the disciples saw [it] they were indignant, saying, "{Why} this waste?

9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor!"

10 But Jesus, knowing [this], said to them, "Why do you cause trouble for the woman? For she has done a good deed for me.

11 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.

12 For [when] this woman poured this ointment on my body, she did [it] in order to prepare me for burial.

13 Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her."

Footnotes

• [a] Or "will be delivered up"
• [b] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [c] *Here "[while]" is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle ("was")
• [d] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [e] *Here "[while]" is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle ("was reclining at table")
• [f] *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("saw") which is understood as temporal
• [g] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [h] Literally "for what" [reason]
• [i] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [j] *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("poured") which is understood as temporal
• [k] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation