John 19:38-39

Jesus’ Burial

19:38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus (but secretly, because he feared the Jewish leaders ¹ ), ²  asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. Pilate ³  gave him permission, so he went and took the body away. ⁴  19:39 Nicodemus, the man who had previously come to Jesus ⁵  at night, ⁶  accompanied Joseph, ⁷  carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes ⁸  weighing about seventy-five pounds. ⁹ 

[19:38]  ¹ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially the Pharisees (see John 12:42). See also the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 7.

[19:38]  ² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[19:38]  ³ tn Grk “And Pilate.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[19:38]  ⁴ tn Grk “took away his body.”

[19:39]  ⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:39]  ⁶ sn See John 3:1-21.

[19:39]  ⁷ tn Grk “came”; the words “accompanied Joseph” are not in the Greek text but are supplied for clarity.

[19:39]  ⁸ sn Aloes refers to an aromatic resin from a plant similar to a lily, used for embalming a corpse.

[19:39]  ⁹ sn The Roman pound (λίτρα, litra) weighed twelve ounces or 325 grams. Thus 100 Roman pounds would be about 32.5 kilograms or 75 pounds.