John 12:1–19

Mary Anoints Jesus with Costly Perfume

^1aJesus, therefore, six days before ^bthe Passover, came to ^cBethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

²So they made Him a supper there, and ^aMartha was serving; and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him.

^3aMary then took a ¹litra of ^bperfume of very costly pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴But ^aJudas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was going to ¹betray Him, ^*said,

⁵“Why was this perfume not sold for ¹three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

⁶Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he ^ahad the money box, he used to take from ^bwhat was put into it.

⁷Therefore Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for ^athe day of My burial.

⁸“^aFor you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.”

⁹Then the ^alarge crowd from the Jews learned that He was there. And they came, not because of Jesus only, but that they might also see Lazarus, ^bwhom He raised from the dead.

¹⁰But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also;

¹¹because ^aon account of him ^bmany of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.

The Triumphal Entry

¹²On the next day ^athe large crowd who had come to ^bthe feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

¹³took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “^aHosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the ¹Lord, even the ^bKing of Israel.”

¹⁴And Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written,

¹⁵“^aFear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

^16aThese things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus ^bwas glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him, and that they had done these things to Him.

¹⁷So ^athe crowd, who was with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to bear witness about Him.

^18aFor this reason also the crowd went and met Him, ^bbecause they heard that He had done this ¹sign.

¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing; look, the world has gone after Him.”