Matthew 27:52-66

52Places in the ground where people had buried dead bodies opened up. Many of God's people who had died now became alive again.

53After Jesus became alive again, those people came up out of those places. They went into God's city, Jerusalem. Many people saw them there.

54The captain and his soldiers had been watching Jesus. They saw the ground shaking. They saw everything that had happened. They were very frightened and they said, ‘It must be true! This man really was the Son of God.’

55There were also many women there. They were standing a long way away and they were watching these events. They had come with Jesus from Galilee to help him.

56Mary from Magdala was there. Mary the mother of James and Joses, and Mary the mother of Zebedee's sons, were also there.

57That evening a rich man who came from a town called Arimathea went to Pilate. The man's name was Joseph, and he had become a disciple of Jesus.

58Joseph asked Pilate for the dead body of Jesus. Pilate told his soldiers to give Jesus' body to Joseph.

59So Joseph took Jesus' body. He put a clean piece of linen cloth around it.

60Then he put the body in a large hole in a rock. He had made the hole for his own body when he died. After he put Jesus' body there, he rolled a very big stone across the front of the hole to shut it. Then he went away.

61Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of James were there. They were sitting where they could see the hole in the rock where Joseph had put Jesus' body.

62The next day was the Jewish day of rest. The leaders of the priests and the Pharisees met together with Pilate.

63They said to him, ‘Sir, that man told lies. When he was still living, he said, “Three days after I die, I will become alive again.” We know that is what he said.

64So you should tell some soldiers to watch the place where Joseph put Jesus' body. They should watch there for the next three days. Then his disciples cannot come to take his body away. If they did that, then they could say to the people, “God has caused Jesus to become alive again.” This will be worse than the lies that Jesus told when he was alive.’

65Pilate said to them, ‘OK. You may take a group of soldiers to watch the place. Let them fix the rock well, so that nobody can open it.’

66So the Jewish leaders and the soldiers went to the place where Joseph had put Jesus' body. They fixed the big stone that closed the front of the hole with a seal. Then they would know if someone had moved it. The soldiers stayed there to watch the place very carefully.