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Read the Bible

Simplified Cowboy Version

Matthew 28:15

So the deputies pocketed their small fortunes and did what they were told to do. This lie has been told all over the place and is still thought to be true today.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Bribery;   Falsehood;   Jesus, the Christ;   Money;   Soldiers;   Witness;   Thompson Chain Reference - Dead, the;   False;   Mortality-Immortality;   Resurrection;   Witnesses, False;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Resurrection of Christ, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Resurrection;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Angel;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Matthew, the Gospel According to;   Miracles;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Jews in the New Testament;   Matthew, the Gospel of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - John, Gospel of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Jews;   Logia;   Matthew, Gospel According to;   Money (2);   Poet;   Police;   Resurrection of Christ (2);   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Chief parables and miracles in the bible;   Matthew;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Blaze;   Number;   Spread;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for October 15;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They took the money and did as they were instructed, and this story has been spread among Jewish people to this day.
King James Version (1611)
So they tooke the money, and did as they were taught. And this saying is commonly reported among the Iewes vntill this day.
King James Version
So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
English Standard Version
So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
New American Standard Bible
And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews and is to this day.
New Century Version
So the soldiers kept the money and did as they were told. And that story is still spread among the people even today.
Amplified Bible
So they took the money [they were paid for lying] and did as they were instructed; and this [fabricated] story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to the present day.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.
Legacy Standard Bible
And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.
Berean Standard Bible
So the guards took the money and did as they were instructed. And this account has been circulated among the Jews to this very day.
Contemporary English Version
The soldiers took the money and did what they were told. The Jewish people still tell each other this story.
Complete Jewish Bible
The soldiers took the money and did as they were told, and this story has been spread about by Judeans till this very day.
Darby Translation
And they took the money and did as they had been taught. And this report is current among the Jews until this day.
Easy-to-Read Version
So the soldiers kept the money and obeyed the priests. And that story is still spread among the Jews even today.
Geneva Bible (1587)
So they tooke the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is noysed among the Iewes vnto this day.
George Lamsa Translation
So they took the money, and did as they were instructed; and this word went out among the Jews, until this day.
Good News Translation
The guards took the money and did what they were told to do. And so that is the report spread around by the Jews to this very day.
Lexham English Bible
So they took the money and did as they were told, and spread abroad this report among the Jews until this very day.
Literal Translation
And taking the silver, they did as they were taught. And this report was spread by the Jews until today.
American Standard Version
So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continueth until this day.
Bible in Basic English
So they took the money, and did as they had been ordered: and this account has been current among the Jews till the present time.
Hebrew Names Version
So they took the money and did as they were told. This saying was spread abroad among the Yehudim, and continues until this day.
International Standard Version
So the soldiersthey
">[fn] took the money and did as they were instructed. This story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
Etheridge Translation
But they, when they had received the money, did as they had instructed them; and that saying went forth among the Jihudoyee until to-day.
Murdock Translation
And they, having received the money, did as they were instructed. And this story is current among the Jews to this day.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
So they toke the money, & dyd as they were taught. And this saying is noysed among the Iewes, vntyl this day.
English Revised Version
So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continueth until this day.
World English Bible
So they took the money and did as they were told. This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continues until this day.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
So they took the money and did as they were taught; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews till this day.
Weymouth's New Testament
So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this story was noised about among the Jews, and is current to this day.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And whanne the monei was takun, thei diden, as thei weren tauyt. And this word is pupplischid among the Jewis, til in to this day.
Update Bible Version
So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying was spread abroad among the Jews to the present day.
Webster's Bible Translation
So they took the money, and did as they were instructed: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
New English Translation
So they took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story is told among the Jews to this day.
New King James Version
So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
New Living Translation
So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.
New Life Bible
They took the money and did as they were told. This story was told among the Jews and is still told today.
New Revised Standard
So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, they, taking the pieces of silver, did as they were instructed. And this account was spread abroad among the Jews…until this veryday.
Douay-Rheims Bible
So they taking the money, did as they were taught: and this word was spread abroad among the Jews even unto this day.
Revised Standard Version
So they took the money and did as they were directed; and this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And they toke the money and dyd as they were taught. And this sayinge is noysed amoge the Iewes vnto this daye.
Young's Literal Translation
And they, having received the money, did as they were taught, and this account was spread abroad among Jews till this day.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And they toke the money, and dyd as they were taught. And this sayenge is noysed amonge the Iewes vnto this daye.
Mace New Testament (1729)
so they took the money, and did as they were directed: and this report is still current among the Jews at this day.

Contextual Overview

11While the women were goin' to tell Jesus's cowboys about what happened, the deputies rode into town and told the head honchos of the church about the winged rider and everything else that had happened. 12The head honchos met together and came up with a devious plan. They gave the deputies a bunch of money and said, 13"Tell people that Jesus's cowboys came in the middle of the night and bushwhacked you and stole Jesus's body. 14If this report makes it back to Pilate, he will be fine with it and you won't get in trouble." 15So the deputies pocketed their small fortunes and did what they were told to do. This lie has been told all over the place and is still thought to be true today.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

they took: Matthew 26:15, 1 Timothy 6:10

until: Matthew 27:8

Reciprocal: Exodus 23:1 - shalt not Joshua 4:9 - and they are there 1 Kings 8:8 - unto this day 1 Chronicles 4:43 - unto this day Acts 1:19 - it

Cross-References

Matthew 18:20
When two or more come to the campfire or anywhere else to be with me, I am there with them."
Matthew 24:35
The rocks imbedded in the deepest mountains and the blue sky over your heads will not last forever, but my word will.
Matthew 28:20
teachin' them to ride the cowboy way I have taught y'all. And remember this, I am always with you, even to the very end of every trail."
1 Timothy 4:8
Being a tough cowboy is good, but doing things God's way is even better. Godliness has great benefit here on earth and in the eternal life to come.
Jude 1:1
This letter is from Jude, a cowboy of Christ and James's brother.To all those who've been called to ride for the brand with the love and protection of Jesus Christ.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

So they took the money, and did as they were taught,.... Though they had been just now in the greatest fright and consternation imaginable, at the sight of the angel, and knew what was done; yet being men of no religion or conscience, were tempted with the money, and took it, and reported every where what had been put into their mouths by the chief priests and elders.

And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews unto this day; to the time that Matthew wrote this Gospel; which according to the subscriptions to a most ancient copy of Beza's, and the Syriac and Arabic versions of De Dieu, was in the "eighth" year after our Lord's ascension; though others make it to be the "ninth"; and others the "fifteenth". The sense is, not that this narrative the evangelist gives, that the sanhedrim bribed the soldiers to give out such a lying story, was known to the Jews, and commonly reported by them; though some take this to be the sense; but that it was reported and believed among the Jews in common, to that time, that the disciples of Christ did really come in the night, and steal away the body of Christ, while the watch slept: to such judicial blindness, and hardness of heart, were they given up, as to believe a lie, and which had no appearance of truth in it. They have since contrived a more monstrous and ridiculous story than this. They say e, that Judas, seeing where the body was laid, and the disciples sitting upon the tomb, and mourning over it, in the middle of the night, took his opportunity to take away the body, and buried it in his own garden, under a current of water; having first turned the water another way, and then put it in the same course as before; and which he afterwards discovered to the Jews; and the body was taken up and exposed, and insulted in the most ignominious manner: but alas! Judas had hanged himself some days before; and had he been living, would not have been capable of doing what they ascribe unto him.

e Toldos Jesu, p. 18, 19, 21.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This saying is commonly reported - This account of the disappearance of the body of Jesus from the sepulchre is commonly given.

Until this day - The time when Matthew wrote this gospel that is, about 30 years after the resurrection.

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus, of which an account is given in this chapter, is one of the most important doctrines of the Christian religion, and is attested by the strongest evidence that can be adduced in favor of any ancient fact. Let it be considered:

1. That he had often foretold his own death and resurrection. See Matthew 12:40; Matthew 16:21; Matthew 20:19.

2. There was no doubt that he was really dead. Of this the Jews. the Romans, and the disciples were all equally well satisfied.

3. Every proper precaution was taken to prevent his removal by stealth. A guard, usually consisting of sixty men, was placed there for the express purpose of keeping him, and the sepulchre was secured by a large stone and by a seal.

4. On the third day the body was missing. In this all were agreed. The high priests did not dare to call that in question. They labored, therefore, to account for it. The disciples affirmed that he was alive. The Jews hired the Roman soldiers to affirm that he was stolen while they slept, and succeeded in making many of the people believe it.

This account of the Jews is attended with the following difficulties and absurdities:

  1. The Roman guard was composed usually of 60 men, and they were stationed there for the express purpose of guarding the body of Jesus.
  2. The punishment of “sleeping” while on guard in the Roman army was “death,” and it is perfectly incredible that those soldiers should expose themselves in this manner to death.
  3. The disciples were few in number, unarmed, weak, and timid. They had just fled before those who took Jesus in the garden, and how can it be believed that in so short a time they would dare to attempt to take away from a Roman guard of armed men what they were expressly set to defend?
  4. How could the disciples presume that they would find the Roman soldiers asleep? or, if they should, how was it possible to remove the stone and the body without awaking even “one” of their number?
  5. The “regularity and order” of the grave-clothes John 20:6-7 show that the body had not been stolen. When men rob graves of the bodies of the dead, they do not wait coolly to fold up the grave-clothes and lay them carefully by themselves.
  6. If the soldiers were “asleep,” how did they, or how could they know that the disciples stole the body away? If they were “awake,” why did they suffer it?

The whole account, therefore, was intrinsically absurd. On the other hand, the account given by the disciples is perfectly natural and credible.

1. They account for the reason why the soldiers did not see the Saviour when he rose. Terrified at the vision of an angel, they became as dead men.

2. They affirmed that they saw him. All the apostles affirmed this, and many others.

3. They affirmed it in Jerusalem, in the presence of the Jews, before the high priests and the people. See the Acts of the Apostles. If the Jews really believed the account which they themselves had given, why did they not apprehend the apostles, and prove them guilty of the theft and of falsehood? - things which they never attempted, and which show, therefore, that they did not credit their own report.

4. In regard to the Saviour they could not be deceived. They had been with him three years. They knew him as a friend. They again ate and drank with him; they put their fingers into his hands and side; they conversed with him; they were with him 40 days. There were enough of them to bear witness. Law commonly requires not more than one or two competent witnesses, but here were eleven plain, honest men, who affirmed in all places and at all times that they had seen him. Can it be possible that they could be deceived Then all faith in testimony must be given up.

5. They gave every possible evidence of their sincerity. They were persecuted, ridiculed, scourged, and put to death for affirming this. Yet not one of them ever expressed the least doubt of its truth. They bore everything rather than to deny that they had seen him. They had no motive in doing this but the love of truth. They obtained no wealth by it, no honor, no pleasure. They gave themselves up to great and unparalleled sufferings - going from land to land; crossing almost every sea; enduring the dangers, toils, and privations of almost every clime - for the simple object of affirming everywhere that a Saviour died and rose. If they knew this was an imposition - and if it had been they would have known it - in what way is this remarkable conduct to be accounted for? Do men conduct in this way for nothing? and especially in a plain case, where all that can be required is the testimony of the senses?

6. The world believed them. Three thousand of the Jews themselves believed in the risen Saviour on the day of Pentecost, but 50 days after his resurrection, Acts 2:41. Multitudes of other Jews believed during the lives of the apostles. Thousands of Gentiles believed also, and in 300 years the belief that Jesus rose had spread over and changed the whole Roman empire. If the apostles had been deceivers, that was the age in which they could most easily have been detected. Yet that was the age when converts were most rapidly multiplied, and God affixed His seal to their testimony that it was true.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Matthew 28:15. Until this day. — That is to say, the time in which Matthew wrote his Gospel; which is supposed by some to have been eight, by others eighteen, and by others thirty years after our Lord's resurrection.


 
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