12:5
Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?: This is a rhetorical question. It is used as a rebuke. Judas rebuked Mary and he also rebuked Jesus for allowing Mary to pour her perfume on his feet. Judas implied that Mary should have sold her perfume and given the money to the poor.
There are several ways to translate this rebuke:
• Use a rhetorical question. For example:
Could not this perfume have been sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor? (Revised English Bible)
• Use a statement or statements. For example:
That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor. (New Living Translation (2004))
• Use a combination of a rhetorical question and a statement. For example:
Why wasn’t this money sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages. (New International Version)
Translate this rebuke in the way that is most natural in your language. Judas was being critical and did not approve of what Mary did. He indicated that it was a waste to pour the perfume on Jesus’ feet. Try to use expressions that imply this.
Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii…?: This clause implies three things. First, the perfume was worth three hundred (300) denarii. Second, Mary could have sold it for that much money. And third, she should have sold it. Judas implied that selling it would have been the right thing to do. The verb phrase wasn’t…sold is passive. There are at least two ways to translate it:
• Use a passive verb. For example:
Could not this perfume have been sold for three hundred denarii? (Revised English Bible)
• Use an active verb. For example:
Why did Mary/she not sell this perfume? It was worth three hundred denarii/coins.
-or-
Mary could/should have sold this perfume for three hundred denarii/coins.
Use the verb form that is most natural in your language in this context.
three hundred denarii: The word denarii is the plural of “denarius.” The denarius was a Roman coin worth about a day’s wage for a worker. So three hundred (300) denarii were about a year’s wages. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
three hundred silver coins (NET Bible Bible)
-or-
a year’s wages (New International Version)
In some languages it is more natural to say something general that means “lots of money.” For example:
a high price (God’s Word)
-or-
a small fortune (New Living Translation (1996))
You may want to put the exact amount in a footnote. For example:
The Greek says 300 denarii. A denarius was one day’s pay for the ordinary worker.
In some languages it may be natural to translate this as a separate sentence. For example:
This perfume was worth three hundred coins. Why wasn’t it sold…? (New Century Version)
-or-
Why didn’t Mary sell the perfume? Someone would have paid/given three hundred coins for it.
the money given to the poor: This is a short way of saying “why was the money ⌊from selling the perfume⌋ not given to poor people?” The verb given is passive. There are at least two ways to translate it:
• Use a passive verb. For example:
the money should have been given to the poor
• Use an active verb. For example:
why did she not give that money to the poor?
-or-
Mary should have given the money to the poor
Use the verb form that is most natural in your language. Also, use either a rhetorical question or a statement for the rebuke. Here are other ways to translate this idea:
poor people could/should have been helped
-or-
the poor could have received the money/blessing
-or-
Would it not have been better to give the money to the poor?
© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.