Lamentations 3:53

3:53 They shut me ¹  up in a pit

and threw stones at me.

Matthew 27:60-66

27:60 and placed it ²  in his own new tomb that he had cut in the rock. ³  Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance ⁴  of the tomb and went away. 27:61 (Now Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there, opposite the tomb.)

The Guard at the Tomb

27:62 The ⁵  next day (which is after the day of preparation) the chief priests and the Pharisees ⁶  assembled before Pilate 27:63 and said, “Sir, we remember that while that deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 27:64 So give orders to secure the tomb until the third day. Otherwise his disciples may come and steal his body ⁷  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 ⁸  a guard of soldiers. Go and make it as secure as you can.” 27:66 So ⁹  they went with the soldiers ¹⁰  of the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

Acts 12:4

12:4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, handing him over to four squads ¹¹  of soldiers to guard him. Herod ¹²  planned ¹³  to bring him out for public trial ¹⁴  after the Passover.

Acts 16:23-24

16:23 After they had beaten them severely, ¹⁵  they threw them into prison and commanded ¹⁶  the jailer to guard them securely. 16:24 Receiving such orders, he threw them in the inner cell ¹⁷  and fastened their feet in the stocks. ¹⁸ 

[3:53]  ¹ tn Heb “my life.”

[27:60]  ² 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.

[27:60]  ³ tn That is, cut or carved into an outcropping of natural rock, resulting in a cave-like structure (see L&N 19.25).

[27:60]  ⁴ tn Or “to the door,” “against the door.”

[27:62]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:62]  ⁶ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[27:64]  ⁷ tn Grk “him.”

[27:65]  ⁸ tn Grk “You have a guard.”

[27:66]  ⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Pilate’s order.

[27:66]  ¹⁰ 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.

[12:4]  ¹¹ sn Four squads of soldiers. Each squad was a detachment of four soldiers.

[12:4]  ¹² tn Grk “guard him, planning to bring him out.” The Greek construction continues with a participle (βουλόμενος, boulomeno") and an infinitive (ἀναγαγεῖν, anagagein), but this creates an awkward and lengthy sentence in English. Thus a reference to Herod was introduced as subject and the participle translated as a finite verb (“Herod planned”).

[12:4]  ¹³ tn Or “intended”; Grk “wanted.”

[12:4]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “to bring him out to the people,” but in this context a public trial (with certain condemnation as the result) is doubtless what Herod planned. L&N 15.176 translates this phrase “planning to bring him up for a public trial after the Passover.”

[16:23]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Having inflicted many blows on them.” The participle ἐπιθέντες (epiqente") has been taken temporally. BDAG 384 s.v. ἐπιτίθημι 1.a.β has “inflict blows upon someone” for this expression, but in this context it is simpler to translate in English as “they had beaten them severely.”

[16:23]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “commanding.” The participle παραγγείλαντες (parangeilante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[16:24]  ¹⁷ tn Or “prison.”

[16:24]  ¹⁸ tn L&N 6.21 has “stocks” for εἰς τὸ ξύλον (ei" to xulon) here, as does BDAG 685 s.v. ξύλον 2.b. However, it is also possible (as mentioned in L&N 18.12) that this does not mean “stocks” but a block of wood (a log or wooden column) in the prison to which prisoners’ feet were chained or tied. Such a possibility is suggested by v. 26, where the “bonds” (“chains”?) of the prisoners loosened.