Chapter 12.
When the Jews were made acquainted with these things done by Joseph and Nicodemus, they were greatly stirred up against them. And the chief priests Annas and Caiaphas sent for Joseph, and said: Why hast thou done this service to Jesus? Joseph says: I know that Jesus was a man just, and true, and good in all respects; and I know also that you, through hatred, managed to murder him: and therefore I buried him. Then the high priests were enraged, and laid hold of Joseph, and threw him into prison, and said to him: If we had not to-morrow the feast of unleavened bread, tomorrow also should we have put thee, like him, to death; but being kept in the meantime, early in the morning of the Lord's day [1919] thou shalt be given up to death. Thus they spoke, and affixed their seal to the prison, having secured it by fastenings of all sorts.
Thus, therefore, when the Preparation was ended, early on the Sabbath the Jews went away to Pilate, and said to him: My lord, that deceiver said, that after three days he should rise again. Lest, therefore, his disciples should steal him by night, and lead the people astray by such deceit, order his tomb to be guarded. Pilate therefore, upon this, gave them five hundred soldiers, who also sat round the sepulchre so as to guard it, after having put seals upon the stone of the tomb. [1920]
The Lord's day, then, having dawned, the chief priests, along with the Jews, called a council, and sent to take Joseph out of the prison, in order to put him to death. But having opened it, they found him not. And they were astonished at this--how, with the doors shut, and the bolts safe, and the seals unbroken, Joseph had disappeared.
[1919] Observe the anachronism.
[1920] Matt. xxvii. 62-66.
Chapter 13.
And upon this there came up one of the soldiers guarding the tomb, and he said in the synagogue: Learn that Jesus has risen. The Jews say: How? And he said: First there was an earthquake; then an angel of the Lord, clothed with lightning, came from heaven, and rolled the stone from the tomb, and sat upon it. And from fear of him, all of us soldiers became as dead, and were able neither to flee nor speak. And we heard the angels saying to the women who came there to see the tomb: Be not you afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus. He is not here, but is risen, as He told you before. Bend down and see the tomb where His body lay; but go and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and let them go into Galilee, for there shall they find Him. For this reason I tell you this first. [1921]
The Jews say to the soldiers: What sort of women were they who came to the tomb? and why did you not lay hold of them? The soldiers say: From the fear and the mere sight of the angel, we were able neither to speak nor move. The Jews said: As the God of Israel liveth, we do not believe a word you say. The soldiers say: Jesus did so great wonders, and you believed not, and are you going to believe us? You say truly that God liveth; and certainly he whom you crucified truly liveth. But we have heard that you had Joseph shut up in the prison, and that you afterwards opened the doors, and did not find him. Do you then present Joseph, and so we also shall present Jesus. The Jews say: Joseph, that fled from the prison, you will find in Arimathæa, his own country. And the soldiers say: Go you too into Galilee, and you will find Jesus, as the angel said to the women.
At these words the Jews were afraid, and said to the soldiers: See that you tell this story to nobody, or all will believe in Jesus. And for this reason they gave them also much money. And the soldiers said: We are afraid lest by any chance Pilate hear that we have taken money, and he will kill us. And the Jews said: Take it; and we pledge ourselves that we shall speak to Pilate in your defence. Only say that you were asleep, and in your slumber the disciples of Jesus came and stole him from the tomb. The soldiers therefore took the money, and said as they were bid. And up to this day this same lying tale is told among the Jews. [1922]
[1921] Matt. xxviii. 1-8.
[1922] Matt. xxviii. 11-15.