Matthew 27:60

27:60 and placed it ¹  in his own new tomb that he had cut in the rock. ²  Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance ³  of the tomb and went away.

Matthew 27:64-66

27:64 So give orders to secure the tomb until the third day. Otherwise his disciples may come and steal his body ⁴  and say to the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” 27:65 Pilate said to them, “Take ⁵  a guard of soldiers. Go and make it as secure as you can.” 27:66 So ⁶  they went with the soldiers ⁷  of the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

¹ 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.

² tn That is, cut or carved into an outcropping of natural rock, resulting in a cave-like structure (see L&N 19.25).

³ tn Or “to the door,” “against the door.”

⁴ tn Grk “him.”

⁵ tn Grk “You have a guard.”

⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Pilate’s order.

⁷ tn Grk “with the guard.” The words “soldiers of the” have been supplied in the translation to prevent “guard” from being misunderstood as a single individual.