1 aNow bthe Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes cwere seeking how to seize Him by stealth and kill Him;

2 for they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise there might be a riot of the people.”

3 aWhile He was in bBethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very ccostly perfume of pure 1nard; and she broke the vial and poured it over His head.

4 But some were indignantly remarking to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted?

5 “For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred 1denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they were scolding her.

6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to Me.

7 “For you always have athe poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me.

8 “She has done what she could; ashe has anointed My body beforehand for the burial.

9 “Truly I say to you, awherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”