Discovery BoxMatthew 27:60-66 
Context27:60 and placed it 1 in his own new tomb that he had cut in the rock. 2 Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance 3 of the tomb and went away. 27:61 (Now Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there, opposite the tomb.)
27:62 The 4 next day (which is after the day of preparation) the chief priests and the Pharisees 5 assembled before Pilate 27:63 and said, “Sir, we remember that while that deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 27:64 So give orders to secure the tomb until the third day. Otherwise his disciples may come and steal his body 6 and say to the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” 27:65 Pilate said to them, “Take 7 a guard of soldiers. Go and make it as secure as you can.” 27:66 So 8 they went with the soldiers 9 of the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.
1 tc ‡ αὐτό (auto, “it”) is found after ἔθηκεν (eqhken, “placed”) in the majority of witnesses, including many important ones, though it seems to be motivated by a need for clarification and cannot therefore easily explain the rise of the shorter reading (which is read by א L Θ Ë13 33 892 pc). Regardless of which reading is original (though with a slight preference for the shorter reading), English style requires the pronoun. NA27 includes αὐτό here, no doubt due to the overwhelming external attestation.
2 tn That is, cut or carved into an outcropping of natural rock, resulting in a cave-like structure (see L&N 19.25).
3 tn Or “to the door,” “against the door.”
4 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
5 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
6 tn Grk “him.”
7 tn Grk “You have a guard.”
8 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Pilate’s order.
9 tn Grk “with the guard.” The words “soldiers of the” have been supplied in the translation to prevent “guard” from being misunderstood as a single individual.
