The Burial of Jesus

⁵⁷ When it was evening,^(A) a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph came, who himself had also become a disciple^(B) of Jesus. ⁵⁸ He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body. Then Pilate ordered that it^[a] be released. ⁵⁹ So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in clean, fine linen, ⁶⁰ and placed it in his new tomb, which he had cut into the rock. He left after rolling a great stone against the entrance of the tomb.^{(C) 61} Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were seated there, facing the tomb.

The Closely Guarded Tomb

⁶² The next day, which followed the preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate^{(D) 63} and said, “Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’^{(E) 64} So give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples^(F) may come, steal him, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”

⁶⁵ “Take^[b] guards,” Pilate told them. “Go and make it as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶ They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards.^(G)

Jesus’s Burial

³⁸ After^(A) this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus—but secretly because of his fear of the Jews—asked Pilate that he might remove Jesus’s body.^(B) Pilate gave him permission; so he came and took his body away. ³⁹ Nicodemus^(C) (who had previously come to him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about seventy-five pounds^[a] of myrrh and aloes. ⁴⁰ They took Jesus’s body^(D) and wrapped it in linen cloths^(E) with the fragrant spices, according to the burial^(F) custom of the Jews. ⁴¹ There was a garden in the place where he was crucified. A new tomb was in the garden; no one had yet been placed in it. ⁴² They placed Jesus there because of the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby.