Matthew 27:66

Literal Standard Version

and they, having gone, made the grave secure, having sealed the stone, together with the guard.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guard.

King James Version (1611)
So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

King James Version
So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

English Standard Version
So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

New American Standard Bible
And they went and made the tomb secure with the guard, sealing the stone.

New Century Version
So they all went to the tomb and made it safe from thieves by sealing the stone in the entrance and putting soldiers there to guard it.

Amplified Bible
So they went and made the tomb secure, and along with [stationing] a guard of soldiers [to be on watch] they set a seal on the stone.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.

Legacy Standard Bible
And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.

Berean Standard Bible
So they went and secured the tomb by sealing the stone and posting the guard.

Contemporary English Version
So they sealed it tight and placed soldiers there to guard it.

Complete Jewish Bible
So they went and made the grave secure by sealing the stone and putting the guard on watch.

Darby Translation
And they went and secured the sepulchre, having sealed the stone, with the watch [besides].

Easy-to-Read Version
So they all went to the tomb and made it safe from thieves. They did this by sealing the stone in the entrance and putting soldiers there to guard it.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And they went, and made the sepulchre sure with the watch, and sealed the stone.

George Lamsa Translation
So they went and kept a watch at the tomb, and together with the guards they sealed the stone.

Good News Translation
So they left and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and leaving the guard on watch.

Lexham English Bible
So they went with the guard of soldiers and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

Literal Translation
And going along with the guard, they made the grave secure, sealing the stone.

American Standard Version
So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, the guard being with them.

Bible in Basic English
So they went, and made safe the place where his body was, putting a stamp on the stone, and the watchmen were with them.

Hebrew Names Version
So they went, and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone, the guard being with them.

International Standard Version
So they went and secured the tomb by putting a seal on the stone in the presence of the guards.Daniel 6:17;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
So they went, and set a watch (about) the sepulchre, and sealed the stone along with the guards.

Murdock Translation
And they went and set a guard to the sepulchre, and sealed the stone.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
So they went, and made the sepulchre sure with the watch, and sealed the stone.

English Revised Version
So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, the guard being with them.

World English Bible
So they went, and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone, the guard being with them.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
So they went and secured the sepulchre, sealing the stone, and setting a guard.

Weymouth's New Testament
So they went and made the sepulchre secure, sealing the stone besides setting the guard.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thei yeden forth, and kepten the sepulcre, markynge the stoon, with keperis.

Update Bible Version
So they went, and made the tomb sure, sealing the stone, the guard being with them.

Webster's Bible Translation
So they went, and having sealed the stone, made the sepulcher secure with a watch.

New English Translation
So they went with the soldiers of the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

New King James Version
So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

New Living Translation
So they sealed the tomb and posted guards to protect it.

New Life Bible
Then they went and made the soldiers stand by the grave. They put a lock on the big stone door.

New Revised Standard
So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, they, went and secured for themselves the sepulchre, sealing the stone, with the guard.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they departing, made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting guards.

Revised Standard Version
So they went and made the sepulchre secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And they went and made the sepulcre sure with watche men and sealed the stone.

Young's Literal Translation
and they, having gone, did make the sepulchre secure, having sealed the stone, together with the watch.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
They wete and kepte the sepulcre wt watchmen, and sealed the stone.

Mace New Testament (1729)
accordingly they went, and having clapt a seal upon the stone, they posted a guard to secure the sepulchre.

Simplified Cowboy Version
They went and stretched some rope across the entrance with some mud at each end so's they could tell if it had been messed with. They told the deputies to stand guard and not let anyone mess with the body or the grave.

Contextual Overview

⁵⁷And evening having come, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who also himself was discipled to Jesus, ⁵⁸he having gone near to Pilate, asked for himself the body of Jesus; then Pilate commanded the body to be given back. ⁵⁹And having taken the body, Joseph wrapped it in clean linen, ⁶⁰and laid it in his new tomb that he hewed in the rock, and having rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, he went away; ⁶¹now Mary the Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the grave. ⁶²And on the next day that is after the Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together to Pilate, ⁶³saying, "Lord, we have remembered that this deceiver said while yet living, After three days I rise; ⁶⁴command, then, the grave to be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples, having come by night, may steal Him away, and may say to the people, He rose from the dead, and the last deceit will be worse than the first." ⁶⁵And Pilate said to them, "You have a guard, go away, make [it] secure—as you have known"; ⁶⁶and they, having gone, made the grave secure, having sealed the stone, together with the guard.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

and made: Every thing was here done which human policy and prudence could, to prevent a resurrection, which these very precautions had the most direct tendency to authenticate and establish.

sealing: Daniel 6:17, 2 Timothy 2:19

Reciprocal: Genesis 22:9 - place Leviticus 1:15 - wring off his head Joshua 10:18 - General Lamentations 3:53 - and Matthew 27:60 - a great Matthew 28:4 - the Matthew 28:11 - some John 11:38 - It was Revelation 20:3 - and set

Gill's Notes on the Bible

So they went,.... From Pilate's palace, to the garden of Joseph, and to the sepulchre there; which whether more than a sabbath day's journey, or two thousand cubits, may be inquired; and if so, then they broke one of their own traditions, which allowed a person to go no further on a sabbath day; :-.

And made the sepulchre sure; in the following manner,

sealing the stone; that was rolled to the door of it, it may be with some public seal, with Pilate's, or with the sanhedrim's; as the stone at the mouth of the lions' den, in which Daniel was put, was sealed with the king's signet, and with the signet of his lords, Daniel 6:17, that there might be no change of the sentence upon him, and by which it appeared, that his deliverance was by no human assistance: so the stone at Christ's sepulchre was sealed, that it could not be removed without breaking it; which would show, whether any fraudulent methods were taken to remove the body:

and setting a watch; a guard of soldiers, to observe and prevent any person coming near it; or "with the watch": they made sure the sepulchre with the watch; or sealed the stone, the watch being present; all which was overruled by the providence of God, for the greater confirmation of the truth of Christ's resurrection: by the methods taken, it clearly appears, there could be no fraud in the case; the body was laid in a tomb, where no corpse had ever been before; in a tomb hewed out of a rock, to which there was no access, but at the door; where a great stone was rolled; and this had a seal upon it, and a guard of soldiers about it; and hereby there were more witnesses of Christ's resurrection, than otherwise would have been; as the soldiers, though they were afterwards bribed to tell another story; and even the chief priests and Pharisees were convicted that he was risen, or they would never have taken such a method with the soldiers, as they did.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Sealing the stone - The sepulchre was made sure by affixing the large stone to the entrance in such a way that it could not be removed without detection. It was sealed. In what way this was done cannot now be certainly told. The cave in which Daniel was cast was fastened in the same manner, and sealed with the king’s signet Daniel 6:17, perhaps by fastening the stone in its place with cords, and bringing them together and uniting them with wax, and impressing on that the seal of the king. In this way, letters and books were anciently sealed. Possibly on the sepulchre of Jesus was impressed in this manner the seal of Pilate - the seal of office - making it doubly sure; or it may be that the stone was fitted into the tomb with clay or cement, and on that was impressed the seal of Pilate.

Setting a watch - That is, as large a number of soldiers as they judged necessary to secure the tomb.

We cannot but be struck with the wisdom of God in ordering the circumstances of the Saviour’s burial in such a manner as to avoid the possibility of deception. Had all this been done by his “friends,” it might have been said that they only pretended to secure the tomb, and only pretended that he was dead. But he was adjudged to be dead “by the Jews themselves;” Pilate was satisfied that that was the fact; they had their own way about his burial; he was buried alone; the place of his sepulchre was made sure, “expressly to prevent his being removed;” and they placed around him a guard, in their own judgment large enough to prevent his being taken away by force or strength. His very enemies, therefore, took every possible precaution to place his resurrection beyond the possibility of suspicion of fraud and imposture, and those precautions were the very means of furnishing the most striking proof that his death, burial, and resurrection were not impositions, but most affecting, awful, and yet cheering realities.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Matthew 27:66. Made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch. — Or rather, made the tomb secure by the guard, and by sealing the stone. I follow Kypke, in construing μετα της κουστωδιας, with ησφαλισαντο. The guard was to take care that the disciples should not steal him away; and the seal, which was probably the seal of the governor, was to prevent the guards from being corrupted so as to permit the theft. So every thing was done which human policy and prudence could, to prevent a resurrection, which these very precautions had the most direct tendency to authenticate and establish. How wonderful are the wisdom and goodness of God! - and how true is it, that there is neither might nor counsel against him!

1. The death of Christ was ordered, so as to be witnessed by thousands; and if his resurrection take place, it must be demonstrated; and it cannot take place without being incontestable, such are the precautions used here to prevent all imposture.

2. The more the circumstances of the death of Christ are examined, the more astonishing the whole will appear. The death is uncommon - the person uncommon - and the object uncommon; and the whole is grand, majestic, and awful. Nature itself is thrown into unusual action, and by means and causes wholly supernatural. In every part, the finger of God most evidently appears.

3. How glorious does Christ appear in his death! Were it not for his thirst, his exclamation on the cross, and the piercing of his side, we should have found it difficult to believe that such a person could ever have entered the empire of death; but the divinity and the manhood equally appear, and thus the certainty of the atonement is indubitably established.

4. But who can reflect on the state of the poor disciples, during the whole of the time in which our blessed Lord lay under the empire of death, without sharing their sorrows! When he expired on the cross their expectation was cut off; and when his body was laid in the grave their hopes were buried; and nothing but the resurrection of Christ from the dead could have given a resurrection to their hopes. It is true they had heard him say that he would rise again the third day; but in this it is evident their faith was very imperfect; and the uncertainty, perplexity, anxiety, and distress which they in consequence must have suffered, can neither be described nor imagined. Though we know the glorious result, yet who can help sympathizing with the pious father, the virgin mother, and the disconsolate disciples!