^19:38After this, Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus (but secretly, because he feared the Jewish leaders¹⁰⁷),¹⁰⁸ asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. Pilate¹⁰⁹ gave him permission, so he went and took the body away.¹¹⁰^19:39Nicodemus, the man who had previously come to Jesus¹¹¹ at night,¹¹² accompanied Joseph,¹¹³ carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes¹¹⁴ weighing about seventy-five pounds.¹¹⁵^19:40Then they took Jesus’ body and wrapped it, with the aromatic spices,¹¹⁶ in strips of linen cloth¹¹⁷ according to Jewish burial customs.¹¹⁸

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Footnotes

107 Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially the Pharisees (see John 12:42). See also the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. .
108 This is a parenthetical note by the author.
109 Grk “And Pilate.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.
110 Grk “took away his body.”
111 Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
113 Grk “came”; the words “accompanied Joseph” are not in the Greek text but are supplied for clarity.
114 Aloes refers to an aromatic resin from a plant similar to a lily, used for embalming a corpse.
115 The Roman pound (λίτρα, litra) weighed twelve ounces or 325 grams. Thus 100 Roman pounds would be about 32.5 kilograms or 75 pounds.
116 On this term see ἄρωμα. The Jews did not practice embalming, so these materials were used to cover the stench of decay and slow decomposition.
117 The Fourth Gospel uses ὀθονίοις (othoniois) to describe the wrappings, and this has caused a good deal of debate, since it appears to contradict the synoptic accounts which mention a σινδών (sindōn), a large single piece of linen cloth. If one understands ὀθονίοις to refer to smaller strips of cloth, like bandages, there would be a difference, but diminutive forms have often lost their diminutive force in Koine Greek ( §111.3), so there may not be any difference.
118 Grk “cloth as is the custom of the Jews to prepare for burial.”

Cross references

112 See John 3:1–21.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus—but secretly because of his fear of the Jews—asked Pilate that he might remove Jesus’s body. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and took his body away. Nicodemus (who had previously come to him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes. They took Jesus’s body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the fragrant spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews.

NLTNew Living Translation

Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And after these things, Joseph who was from Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (but a secret one for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate allowed it, so he came and took away his body. And Nicodemus—the one who had come to him formerly at night—also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about a hundred pounds. So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in strips of linen cloth with the fragrant spices, as is the Jews’ custom to prepare for burial.

KJV 1900King James Version

And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.

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