John 12:5

“Why did she waste that perfume? Why didn’t she let us sell it? We can get more money than a man gets for working for a whole year, and then we can give that money to poor people.”

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?

In Context

4Judas Iscariot was there with Jesus’s other followers. (He was the one that turned against Jesus later.) He said,

6But, you know, Judas didn’t really feel sorry for poor people. He was the one that looked after the money bag, and sometimes he stole some of that money for himself.

Read all of John 12

Cross References

Mark 14:4Some of the people there said to each other, “Why did she waste that perfume?

Matthew Henry on John 12:2-12

Mary Anoints Christ's Feet; Hypocrisy of Judas; Indignation of the Chief Priests. 1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. 3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 4 Then… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study John 12:5