Add parallel Print Page Options

The Guard at the Tomb

62 The next day, on the Sabbath,[a] the leading priests and Pharisees went to see Pilate. 63 They told him, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver once said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise from the dead.’ 64 So we request that you seal the tomb until the third day. This will prevent his disciples from coming and stealing his body and then telling everyone he was raised from the dead! If that happens, we’ll be worse off than we were at first.”

65 Pilate replied, “Take guards and secure it the best you can.” 66 So they sealed the tomb and posted guards to protect it.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 27:62 Or On the next day, which is after the Preparation.

62 The next day, that is, the day after the [day of] preparation [for the Sabbath], the chief priests and the Pharisees assembled before Pilate, 63 and said, “Sir, we have remembered that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise [from the dead].’ 64 Therefore, give orders to have the tomb made secure and safeguarded until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception [the reporting of His resurrection] will be worse than the first [the reporting that He is the Messiah].” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard [of soldiers]; go [with them], make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and [a]made the tomb secure, and along with [stationing] a guard of soldiers [to be on watch] they set a seal on the stone.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Matthew 27:66 In ancient times a tomb was secured by stretching a cord across the stone, then sealing each end of the cord to the rock wall with wax. The wax was marked with the official Roman seal.