Matthew 27:60-66

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. 27:61 (Now Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there, opposite the tomb.)

The Guard at the Tomb

27:62 The ⁴  next day (which is after the day of preparation) the chief priests and the Pharisees ⁵  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 ⁶  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 ⁷  a guard of soldiers. Go and make it as secure as you can.” 27:66 So ⁸  they went with the soldiers ⁹  of the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

Matthew 28:2

28:2 Suddenly there was a severe earthquake, for an angel of the Lord ¹⁰  descending from heaven came and rolled away the stone and sat on it.

Mark 15:46-47

15:46 After Joseph ¹¹  bought a linen cloth ¹²  and took down the body, he wrapped it in the linen and placed it in a tomb cut out of the rock. ¹³  Then ¹⁴  he rolled a stone across the entrance ¹⁵  of the tomb. 15:47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body ¹⁶  was placed.

Mark 16:3-4

16:3 They had been asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 16:4 But ¹⁷  when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled back.

John 20:1-2

The Resurrection

20:1 Now very early on the first day of the week, ¹⁸  while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene ¹⁹  came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance. ²⁰  20:2 So she went running ²¹  to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

[27:60]  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.

[27:60]  ² 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]  ³ tn Or “to the door,” “against the door.”

[27:62]  ⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:62]  ⁵ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[27:64]  ⁶ tn Grk “him.”

[27:65]  ⁷ tn Grk “You have a guard.”

[27:66]  ⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Pilate’s order.

[27:66]  ⁹ 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.

[28:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20.

[15:46]  ¹¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Joseph of Arimathea) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:46]  ¹² tn The term σινδών (sindwn) can refer to a linen cloth used either for clothing or for burial.

[15:46]  ¹³ tn That is, cut or carved into an outcropping of natural rock, resulting in a cave-like structure (see L&N 19.25).

[15:46]  ¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[15:46]  ¹⁵ tn Or “to the door,” “against the door.”

[15:47]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “it”; the referent (Jesus’ body) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:4]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[20:1]  ¹⁸ sn The first day of the week would be early Sunday morning. The Sabbath (and in this year the Passover) would have lasted from 6 p.m. Friday until 6 p.m. Saturday. Sunday would thus mark the first day of the following week.

[20:1]  ¹⁹ sn John does not mention that Mary Magdalene was accompanied by any of the other women who had been among Jesus’ followers. The synoptic accounts all mention other women who accompanied her (although Mary Magdalene is always mentioned first). Why John does not mention the other women is not clear, but Mary probably becomes the focus of the author’s attention because it was she who came and found Peter and the beloved disciple and informed them of the empty tomb (20:2). Mary’s use of the plural in v. 2 indicates there were others present, in indirect agreement with the synoptic accounts.

[20:1]  ²⁰ tn Grk “from the tomb.”

[20:2]  ²¹ tn Grk “So she ran and came.”