Text -- Mark 14:1-13 (NET)

The Plot Against Jesus

14:1 Two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. 14:2 For they said, “Not during the feast, so there won’t be a riot among the people.”

Jesus’ Anointing

14:3 Now while Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of costly aromatic oil from pure nard. After breaking open the jar, she poured it on his head. 14:4 But some who were present indignantly said to one another, “Why this waste of expensive ointment? 14:5 It could have been sold for more than three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor!” So they spoke angrily to her. 14:6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a good service for me. 14:7 For you will always have the poor with you, and you can do good for them whenever you want. But you will not always have me! 14:8 She did what she could. She anointed my body beforehand for burial. 14:9 I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

The Plan to Betray Jesus

14:10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus into their hands. 14:11 When they heard this, they were delighted and promised to give him money. So Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray him.

The Passover

14:12 Now on the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 14:13 He sent two of his disciples and told them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Mar 14:1

¹ tn Or “the chief priests and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

² tn Grk “were seeking how.”

³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: Mar 14:2

¹ sn The suggestion here is that Jesus was too popular to openly arrest him. The verb were trying is imperfect. It suggests, in this context, that they were always considering the opportunities.

NET Notes: Mar 14:3

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ sn 1st century middle eastern meals were not eaten while sitting at a table, but while reclining on one’s side on the floor with the head closest to the low table and the feet farthest away.

⁴ sn A jar made of alabaster stone was normally used for very precious substances like perfumes. It normally had a long neck which was sealed and had to be broken off so the contents could be used.

⁵ tn Μύρον (muron) was usually made of myrrh (from which the English word is derived) but here it is used in the sense of ointment or perfumed oil (L&N 6.205). The adjective πιστικῆς (pistikh") is difficult with regard to its exact meaning; some have taken it to derive from πίστις (pistis) and relate to the purity of the oil of nard. More probably it is something like a brand name, “pistic nard,” the exact significance of which has not been discovered.

sn Nard or spikenard is a fragrant oil from the root and spike of the nard plant of northern India. This aromatic oil, if made of something like nard, would have been extremely expensive, costing up to a year’s pay for an average laborer.

NET Notes: Mar 14:4

¹ tn The word “expensive” is not in the Greek text but has been included to suggest a connection to the lengthy phrase “costly aromatic oil from pure nard” occurring earlier in v. 3. The author of Mark shortened this long phrase to just one word in Greek when repeated here, and the phrase “expensive ointment” used in the translation is intended as an abbreviated paraphrase.

NET Notes: Mar 14:5

¹ tn Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

² tn Grk “three hundred denarii.” One denarius was the standard day’s wage, so the value exceeded what a laborer could earn in a year (taking in to account Sabbaths and feast days when no work was done).

³ tn The words “the money” are not in the Greek text, but are implied (as the proceeds from the sale of the perfumed oil).

⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

NET Notes: Mar 14:7

¹ tn In the Greek text of this clause, “me” is in emphatic position (the first word in the clause). To convey some impression of the emphasis, an exclamation point is used in the translation.

NET Notes: Mar 14:9

¹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

NET Notes: Mar 14:10

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

² tn Grk “betray him to them”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: Mar 14:11

¹ sn The leaders were delighted when Judas contacted them about betraying Jesus, because it gave them the opportunity they had been looking for, and they could later claim that Jesus had been betrayed by one of his own disciples.

² sn Matt 26:15 states the amount of money they gave Judas was thirty pieces of silver (see also Matt 27:3-4; Zech 11:12-13).

³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Judas) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: Mar 14:12

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

² tn The words “the feast of” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied for clarity.

³ sn Generally the feast of Unleavened Bread would refer to Nisan 15 (Friday), but the following reference to the sacrifice of the Passover lamb indicates that Nisan 14 (Thursday) was what Mark had in mind (Nisan = March 27 to April 25). The celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted eight days, beginning with the Passover meal. The celebrations were so close together that at times the names of both were used interchangeably.

⁴ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ sn This required getting a suitable lamb and finding lodging in Jerusalem where the meal could be eaten. The population of the city swelled during the feast, so lodging could be difficult to find. The Passover was celebrated each year in commemoration of the Israelites’ deliverance from Egypt; thus it was a feast celebrating redemption (see Exod 12). The Passover lamb was roasted and eaten after sunset in a family group of at least ten people (m. Pesahim 7.13). People ate the meal while reclining (see the note on table in 14:18). It included, besides the lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs as a reminder of Israel’s bitter affliction at the hands of the Egyptians. Four cups of wine mixed with water were also used for the meal. For a further description of the meal and the significance of the wine cups, see E. Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity, 523-24.

NET Notes: Mar 14:13

¹ sn Since women usually carried these jars, it would have been no problem for the two disciples (Luke 22:8 states that they were Peter and John) to recognize the man Jesus was referring to.