John 12:5 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

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

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

⁵ Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

⁵ Why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii [a year's wages for an ordinary workman] and that [money] given to the poor (the destitute)?

American Standard Version (1901)

⁵ Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred shillings, and given to the poor?

Common English Bible

⁵ “This perfume was worth a year’s wages! Why wasn’t it sold and the money given to the poor?” (

Catholic Public Domain Version

⁵ "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the needy?"

John 12:5 Cross References

Luke 18:22

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

Luke 12:33

Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

John 6:7

Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”

Luke 6:41

Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye?

Matthew 20:2

After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.

Amos 8:5

saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel heavier and practice deceit with false balances,

Exodus 5:17

He said, “You are lazy, lazy; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’

Exodus 5:8

But you shall require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’

Matthew 18:28

But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him by the throat he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’

John 12:4

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said,

John 12:6

(He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)

John 13:29

Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival,” or that he should give something to the poor.

Ezra 4:14

Now because we share the salt of the palace and it is not fitting for us to witness the king’s dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king,