Isaiah 53:9

53:9 They intended to bury him with criminals, ¹ 

but he ended up in a rich man’s tomb, ² 

because ³  he had committed no violent deeds,

nor had he spoken deceitfully.

Matthew 27:59-60

27:59 Joseph ⁴  took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁵  27:60 and placed it ⁶  in his own new tomb that he had cut in the rock. ⁷  Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance ⁸  of the tomb and went away.

Mark 15:46

15:46 After Joseph ⁹  bought a linen cloth ¹⁰  and took down the body, he wrapped it in the linen and placed it in a tomb cut out of the rock. ¹¹  Then ¹²  he rolled a stone across the entrance ¹³  of the tomb.

¹ tn Heb “one assigned his grave with criminals.” The subject of the singular is impersonal; English typically uses “they” in such constructions.

² tn This line reads literally, “and with the rich in his death.” בְּמֹתָיו (bÿmotayv) combines a preposition, a plural form of the noun מוֹת (mot), and a third masculine singular suffix. The plural of the noun is problematic and the יו may be the result of virtual dittography. The form should probably be emended to בָּמָתוֹ (bamato, singular noun). The relationship between this line and the preceding one is uncertain. The parallelism appears to be synonymous (note “his grave” and “in his death”), but “criminals” and “the rich” hardly make a compatible pair in this context, for they would not be buried in the same kind of tomb. Some emend עָשִׁיר (’ashir, “rich”) to עָשֵׂי רָע (’ase ra’, “doers of evil”) but the absence of the ayin (ע) is not readily explained in this graphic environment. Others suggest an emendation to שְׂעִירִים (sÿ’irim, “he-goats, demons”), but the meaning in this case is not entirely transparent and the proposal assumes that the form suffered from both transposition and the inexplicable loss of a final mem. Still others relate עָשִׁיר (’ashir) to an alleged Arabic cognate meaning “mob.” See HALOT 896 s.v. עָשִׁיר. Perhaps the parallelism is antithetical, rather than synonymous. In this case, the point is made that the servant’s burial in a rich man’s tomb, in contrast to a criminal’s burial, was appropriate, for he had done nothing wrong.

³ tn If the second line is antithetical, then עַל (’al) is probably causal here, explaining why the servant was buried in a rich man’s tomb, rather than that of criminal. If the first two lines are synonymous, then עַל is probably concessive: “even though….”

⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

⁵ tn The term σινδών (sindwn) can refer to a linen cloth used either for clothing or for burial.

⁶ tc ‡ αὐτό (auto, “it”) is found after ἔθηκεν (eqhken, “placed”) in the majority of witnesses, including many important ones, though it seems to be motivated by a need for clarification and cannot therefore easily explain the rise of the shorter reading (which is read by א L Θ Ë¹³ 33 892 pc). Regardless of which reading is original (though with a slight preference for the shorter reading), English style requires the pronoun. NA²⁷ includes αὐτό here, no doubt due to the overwhelming external attestation.

⁷ tn That is, cut or carved into an outcropping of natural rock, resulting in a cave-like structure (see L&N 19.25).

⁸ tn Or “to the door,” “against the door.”

⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Joseph of Arimathea) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn The term σινδών (sindwn) can refer to a linen cloth used either for clothing or for burial.

¹¹ tn That is, cut or carved into an outcropping of natural rock, resulting in a cave-like structure (see L&N 19.25).

¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

¹³ tn Or “to the door,” “against the door.”