Aligning The Gospels

The First Correct Gospel Translation

The Bible chapters and verses were added between 500-1200 years after the Bible was originally written. Koine Greek had no punctuation or peroids, it was all run-on letters. Open your Bible to Matthew 27. See where it ends, with the setting of the guard? Matthew 27 should actually end shortly after, last words being “first day of the week.” This is because Pilate’s instructions are cut off, what he says in full is “You have a guard of soldiers, go, make it as secure as you can. So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard after the sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week.”

That simple change in the Gospel chapters fixes most of the chronological errors by itself without changing a single word, as it no longer specifies the date Christ rises. The reason the guards waited until after the Sabbath to set the guard, is because they were Jewish guards. The current interpretation of this passage is that Pilate is giving them guards, telling them to set a guard. No, he says, “YOU have a guard. Go, make it secure as YOU can.” They were Jewish guards, therefore, they had to wait until after the Sabbath to guard the tomb. This is obvious in the context of the story, where Pilate knew Christ was innocent, and tries to set him free himself, only killing Christ due to the fact Pilate was a weak man who acquiesced to people of Judea.

Why does it matter that the Gospels have the same account of Christ dying, and why does it matter how long he was dead? It matters because this inaccuracy in texts that are otherwise extremely similar begs belief, leaving a mystery for Christians, and because Christ himself said he would be dead for three days and three nights, and currently not one single Gospel has Christ dead for three days and three nights. Right now, every Gospel makes Christ a liar, as they show him being dead for around 2 days at best.

Now onto the information you need to believe this true beyond any shadow of a doubt:

First we need to understand the context of why Christ was required to die as a prerequisite for our forgiveness and to fulfill the Law, or Torah in Hebrew, and how Christ’s death released us from our sins within the context of the laws of the Jewish religion at the time. This goes into the heart of why God had to send his son to die to remove sin, rather than just waving his hands and forgiving sins as one would expect of someone who has the power to do so.

While I won’t try to quantify the mechanisms of God’s intelligence, it seems to me that the past structures God had instituted for the betterment of mankind required certain rules that, once their effectiveness resulted in their redundancy, had to be removed within the context of those structures, lest he punish those loyal to his structures and make fools of the prudent who had abided his word. 

Think of a constitution being replaced with a new one in a democracy – the old constitution needs to be amended or dissolved according to the rules laid out in that constitution, for the new constitution to be introduced. God choose to introduce the new laws within the context of the old laws, even though the new laws replaced the old laws, because his duty was not to the law but to his people whom the law served and protected. Think of the New Testament as a new Christian constitution to serve all mankind, rather than just a specific segment of the world as Judaism did.

Understanding Passover and the Passover lamb in a historical context is a prerequisite to understanding the manner in which we were redeemed, as Jesus Christ offered himself as a Passover lamb.

As it says in 1 Corinthians 5:7: 

Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch–as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

And as it says in 1 Peter 1:19:

but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

And of course the ever-popular John 1:29:

On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Christ died as the ultimate sacrifice to remove the need to ever offer another sacrifice, as regularly required under the Torah. This requirement was not removed, but fulfilled – still in effect, but never to be enforced again, the requirement being filled forever by Christ.

In Mark 10:34, Christ says he will “rise again” after “three days.” In Matthew 12:40, Christ says he will be in the earth “three days and three nights.” However, the discovery of Christ having risen by Mary Magdalene and others on the first day of the week, as recounted in John 20:1, Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1, and Luke 24:1 allows less than three days and nights after death in each Gospel when compared to the day given for crucifixion, as the first day of the week was the day after the Sabbath.

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In Luke 22, John 13, and Mark 14 the Last Supper is identified as happening during the First Day of the Festival Day of Unleavened Bread, and it appears to be explicitly referred to as a Passover meal. Matthew 26 and Mark 14 identifies the day Christ tells the disciples to prepare the Last Supper as the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, which would make the events of the Last Supper the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread if it was eaten before sunset, or the second day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread if eaten after sunset.

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Since the Bible seems to say that Jesus died on Preparation Day, that is to say in modern terms a Friday, why did he rise on Sunday, if he was supposed to be there for three days and nights specifically, as he himself promised in Matthew 12:40?

+ Many more inconsistencies

There were two Sabbaths that week, the weekly Sabbath, and the High Sabbath of Passover, just as today Passover is still a High Sabbath. A simple Google of High Sabbaths will tell you all you need to know – the distinction of the first and last day of what is now called Passover as Sabbaths has not changed. This can be a little hard to conceptualize for those who think of Sabbath as the Jewish word meaning Saturday, but a Sabbath is a day of rest. There was one once a week, and on certain festival days. 

In fact, the Biblical text refers to Sabbaths, plural, not a singular Sabbath. Greek term included so you can cross check it.

 “In the end of the sabbaths [Greek: σαββάτων], as it began to dawn toward the first day [day inserted] of the week [Greek: σαββάτων], came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.” (KJV)

You’ll notice day is inserted, we know this because KJV puts in italics words that they inserted to make the text easier to read, words that were not there originally. Still, there is an issue there in KJV, but not in many other translations, that it says “In the end of the sabbaths” implying it was soon after. A quick look at the original Greek interlinear, link just below, shows that the other translations are correct. Bracketed words are added by the translators.

Ὀψὲ After δὲ then σαββάτων [the] Sabbaths

So, it’s actually the much less specific “After the Sabbaths…”

So, we have Mary preparing spices for the tomb after the first Sabbath, and bringing them to the tomb before the second Sabbath. Then, after the Sabbaths, she goes to the tomb and Christ is risen.

Of course, we need to discuss how this makes sense! How could every translator, from every Biblical translation we use in modern times, get it wrong? The answer is, they didn’t.

They were correct, well, except for the words they added that were not in the original text, but those additions made sense within the context of their assumptions.

The problem is with the division of chapters, but to a small extent in the punctuation, which was added subjectively later, as neither Koine Greek nor Hebrew had punctuation, and Koine Greek only had capital letters without spaces. Sentence punctuation in Koine Greek was like this: AFTERTHESABBATHSITBEINGDAWNTOWARDFIRSTOFWEEK. Punctuation was only invented several hundred years after the birth of Christ, and we don’t know exactly when it punctuation was added to the New Testament, but I have never read an estimate before 500AD, and for comparison the Old Testament, whose earliest copies are of course in Hebrew not Koine Greek, did not have punctuation or vowels added until around the 7th century AD. 

But, what concerns us are the chapters, added around the 13th century AD, and the verses, added around the 15th century AD. There has been much stress and vexation for centuries about the time Mary visited the tomb, all paper problems that should have been dissolved by the love of Christ, but nevertheless they persisted among well meaning people.

First, let me post the unedited KJV merging 27 and 28, so you can see how well it works just using the existing text. It works out of the box in most versions as I will show. Italics are not my edit, they are used by the KJV to show what words they put in that were not in the original text. I did bold for emphasis the relevant part, that explains why joining the chapter not only makes good sense on it’s own, but actually seems certain in context.

Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch in the end of the sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week.

Just so you know it’s not the guard going to the sepulcher in the original Greek:

δὲ (and) πορευθέντες (having gone) ἠσφαλίσαντο (they made secure) τὸν (the) τάφον (tomb) σφραγίσαντες (having sealed) τὸν (the) λίθον (stone) μετὰ (with) τῆς (the) κουστωδίας (guard) Ὀψὲ (after) δὲ (then) σαββάτων (sabbaths) τῇ (it) ἐπιφωσκούσῃ (being dawn) εἰς (towards) μίαν (one) σαββάτων (sabbath). 

Taking this literal in English:

… and having gone, they made secure the tomb having sealed the stone with the guard after the sabbaths, it being dawn into one sabbath. 

Pilate does not send his own guard. The Judeans ask him to command that the stone be sealed, he replies you have a watch, go your way, make it as sure as you can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, setting the stone, and setting a watch in the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, which to them was Sunday, the day after the Sabbath. As Judeans they could not work starting from Sundown on the day Jesus died, as that was the start of their Passover, which is why they had to wait until what was translated as the dawn towards the first of the week, which according to their ancient and modern calendar was the day after the Sabbath, or modern Sunday. The word dawn in this scenario working in it’s literal definition and common usage as beginning.

Ἐπιφώσκω

Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration

Definition: to let shine, to dawn Usage: I dawn, am near commencing

As in:

NAS: and the Sabbath was about to begin.

KJV: and the sabbath drew on.

INT: and Sabbath was coming on

Of course, if the chapters were correct as assumed, the soldiers being Roman is the logical translation despite the verbal exchange suggesting the opposite, as only Roman soldiers could work on a Sabbath – this all makes sense if you consider the chapters and verses part of the text. Yet, with the medieval arbitrary chapters removed, the plain text of the Bible does not need to be adjusted to fit anybody’s perception, and we can read it as it is as we will.

I will use the NIV and the KJV and the RSV Catholic Version, without changing a word, removing only the arbitrary division into chapters and ending the thought when it makes the most sense, as defended above. Read these three and you’ll be surprised nobody noticed this before.

Absolutely no change except removing the medieval chapters & one sentence ended just a few words later.

NIV:

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.“Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard after the Sabbath. At dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

KJV:

Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch in the end of the sabbath. As it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

RSV:

The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception would be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone after the sabbath. As the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

Remove all punctuation, and it’s just as clear. The Judeans were given permission to post a guard themselves, although they had to wait until the start of the first of the week due to Passover.

This is not only makes sense zooming in on the word to word text, but zooming out it’s almost a requirement for this part of the New Testament to make sense. Why would Pilate, who tried to convince the Judeans to release Christ, and himself said he found no fault in him, be trusted by anyone to have his soldiers guard his tomb? The idea that the Romans, who seemed to view both Judeans and Jesus with utter contempt, would care enough to faithfully guard what was to them a dead man’s tomb for three days is silly. The Judeans, the ones who hated him and demanded his death, and were concerned about him rising, guarding his tomb makes far more sense not just according to the text but also within the logic of the New Testament. Before the guards were assumed to be Romans, just because of the well meaning but inaccurate limitations of the chapters, and even today most translations have their own additions, section titles, which say similar or worse than “Pilate Sends His Guard” or some other thought killing introduction.

Q. The Synoptics indicate that Jesus ate Passover with his disciples at the last supper (Matt. 26:16-20, Mark 14:12-17, Luke 22:7-15.) Yet John 13:1, John 18:28-39, John 19:14, and more indicate that the Passover was after Jesus was crucified, and indeed, that accords with Jesus being the Passover lamb of God, as in 1 Corinthians 5:7 and 1 Peter 1:19.

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Q. Why is there a title for 26:17 in the ESV, ERV, GNT, MEV, NCV, NET and many more to the effect of “Jesus eats the Passover” naming the Passover, when Jesus seems to have died the day before Passover? What does Passover mean in this context, is there more than one? How could Jesus Christ have a Passover, then be caught and crucified the next morning the day before a Passover?

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Q. Why is it called “The Last Supper?”

These questions in particular has been a thorn in the side of pastors and ministers everywhere, mostly because this seeming error is apparent to anyone reading the New Testament, even those not paying attention too well. You quite simply have “Passover” used to refer to different days, that is confusing.

I will begin by showing what Passover meant to the ancient Israelis, as understood by those living in the time of Christ, which is similar but different to how the 7 day Passover is perceived today by modern Israel, but very similar to how the 8 day Passover is perceived by almost all Jews outside of Israel. Non-Israeli Jews all use the familiar Passover dates we know from the Old Testament, As in Leviticus 23:5: 

“The Lord’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord’s Festival of Unleavened Bread begins.” 

The Jewish month of Nisan, whose dates we will be using for this post, was originally, as in Exodus 13, referred to as Aviv but the modern term Nisar was adopted during the Babylonian captivity, and it comes from the Persian word nešân, meaning “sign, mark.” Nisar is the first month of the Assyrian calendar, and on the Hebrew calendar is the first month of the ecclesiastical year and the seventh month of the civil year. The Hebrew adoption of this Persian name might be a reference to the instructions given also in Exodus 13, 13:9* and 13:16**

*This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.

**And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the LORD brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”

Perhaps a more clear translation of Leviticus 23 from the stunningly accurate book “The Five Books of Moses” by Everett Fox, which accords with most marginal notes in the KJV that explain what was translated as “at even” in Leviticus 23 means “between the two evenings.”

Leviticus 23:4-6: “These are the appointed-times of YHWH, proclamations of holiness, which you are to proclaim at their appointed-times: on the first New-Moon [which signals a new month in an unfixed lunar calendar], on the fourteenth after the New Moon, between the setting-times [Hebrew ben ha arbayim] Passover to YHWH. On the fifteenth day after this New-Moon the festival of matzot [unleavened bread] to YHWH…” 

So the Passover is between the sunsets of the fourteenth, and starting on the 15th is the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

So in this context the Passover is the 14th, and the 15th is the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, a seven day festival, thus 8 days. 

But wait, what about Matthew 26:17? We’ll clear that up in a moment.

This is consistent with early Christians celebrating Passover starting on the 14th of Nisan, for those who want more information on that you can search DuckDuckGo for Quartodecimanism, which is a term referring to the practice of early Christians celebrating Passover on the 14th of Nisan/Aviv.

Passover was mandatory to the original Israelis as recounted in Genesis 12:16-17:

And in the first day an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall observe unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. 

But of course, those looking for the regulations related to Passover in Genesis 12 alone miss the continuing regulations in Genesis 13, particularly Genesis 13:7-16:. 

Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.

“After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors,you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord.Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.

“In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’ And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”

The “redeem every firstborn among your sons” was celebrated by bringing all firstborns to the temple, as well as celebrating the Fast of the Firstborn. 

Chabad.org says about the Fast of the Firstborn:

>It is an ancient and widespread custom for the firstborn to fast on the day before Passover. This commemorates the miracle which spared the firstborn Jewish sons from the plague which struck down the firstborn sons of the Egyptians.

The high Sabbath of Passover started at sunset and continued until the next sunset, and so the day before that would be the daytime Christ was killed, as Christ died around 3pm as recounted in the Gospels, the same time the passover lamb was slaughtered. 

We know these Firstborn regulations were mandatory, and not just because it’s common sense that they would obey the regulations of Genesis 13 since they took the regulations in Genesis 12 so seriously. We know they still adhered to those requirements, and also that Jesus Christ himself was a firstborn and adhered to those requirements, from Luke 2:22:

When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord” and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

This tells us Christ was a firstborn. As such, he would have celebrated the Fast of the Firstborn.

The fast is to commemorate the survival of the firstborns in Egypt. In Galilee during the time of Jesus and in many places today, they celebrated this with a ritual meal that occurred at the beginning of Passover called seudah maphsehket. This is to be found in the ancient Hebrew Mishnah read as gospel today by religious Jews – not my invention!

The literal translation of seudah maphsehket is the Last Supper, and so the Last Supper being a, well, Last Supper makes sense according to the New Testament, deep tradition, and common sense.

The Biblical Passover started at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month, whereas in Israel they start Passover on the 15th. You’ll notice I bolded the word day for emphasis – a day in the Bible was not used in the way we use it today, a day meant the daytime, not a 24hr period, this is why they say “3 days and 3 nights” or “40 days and 40 nights” when our modern terminology would not need to make any such clarification. A 24hr calendar date, according to the ancient and modern Jewish lunar calendar began at sunset and ended the next sunset. Really understand this difference between a day, and a date. All dates given in the New Testament are according to their lunar calendar, sunset to sunset, but all days are just that – the day portion of a date.

So a day in the New Testament is the 12 hour sunlight period, as mentioned by Jesus in John 11:9:

“Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light.” 

In any instances where the description is not just a simple description of time passed, but a recounting of actions, they specify day and night, although of course when no person’s actions are being specified the amount of days spent could be used to refer to past dates. 

Now onto these “dual” Passovers. Yet more context, not only does the Passover refer to a date as in Leviticus 23:5, and to the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

Luke 22:1:

Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. 

But Passover is also used to refer to the Passover lamb, as in the same passage:

Luke 22:7:

Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.

If you’re looking in your own Bible here, make sure you’re using a version which shows which words are added, as some add “day” or “feast” despite that not being in the original texts. I like the KJV, as it uses italics to show what words are added.

The Passover lamb was slaughtered in the afternoon during daytime, before Passover which started at sunset. 

The crucifixion starts at Matthew 26, Luke 23, Mark 15, and John 19 for those who want to read the accounts in full before reading on – only a few pages each, and it helps. I recommend the Authorized King James Bible if you want to refer to the exact quotes I’m going to use below, but any translation that remembers that formal equivalence even exists should do.

Remember – the Passover is between the sunsets of the fourteenth, and starting on the 15th is the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Now, Matthew 26:17, referring to the daytime of the Last Supper, says:

“On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

This can and should confuse you, because of course Christ eats bread that is not unleavened during the Last Supper, as the Greek word used, ἄρτον, is used in all of its 97 uses in the New Testament to refer to leavened bread or as a general reference to food such as the Lord’s prayer. This should be impossible if it was already the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Of course, if it was the First Day of Unleavened Bread, it would have been the next date after Passover, which is not possible by any account. So is the New Testament incorrect? Of course not, the error lies, once again, in the hamfisted division of the New Testament, which was written without Chapters, Verses nor grammar, and in all caps, into Chapters and verses. Koine Greek, the language of all original copies of the New Testament, as well as Biblical Hebrew for that matter, did not have punctuation in the time of Jesus. Punctuation and vowels were only added to the Old Testament in the 8th century AD! We don’t have an estimation for when punctuation was added to the New Testament, but as punctuation for Greek was not even invented at all in any secular or religious capacity until some 400AD, I think it’s safe to say that all the original texts we have, which are devoid of punctuation and of course chapters and verses, are the rule not the exception.

So, if we are to ignore the chapters which were first added in the 13th century AD and the verses which were added in the 16th century AD, the error is revealed to be in our ordering of the original texts and not the original texts themselves.

Let’s add 26:16 to 26:17 in the way that makes the most sense, rather than the 16th century divisions which I can only assume were inspired more by the 16th century invention of distillation than by thought, word by word using only the top translation from Strong’s concordance, which needs no introduction.

We’ll start at Matthew 26:15. Interlinear taken from Biblehub, with the only exceptions mentioned and defended.

Τί What θέλετέ are you willing μοι me δοῦναι to give κἀγὼ and I ὑμῖν to you παραδώσω will betray αὐτόν Him οἱ -1 παραδώσω will betray αὐτόν Him οἱ -1 δὲ And ἔστησαν they appointed αὐτῷ to him τριάκοντα thirty ἀργύρια pieces of silver καὶ And ἀπὸ from τότε that time ἐζήτει he was seeking εὐκαιρίαν an opportunity ἵνα that αὐτὸν Him παραδῷ he might betray Τῇ on δὲ but2 πρώτῃ first τῶν of the ἀζύμων unleavened.

1 BibleHub puts the “-” there, it means who or which. Irrelevant to this topic but just for anyone curious. 

2. The translation shown by BibleHub, “now” is super rare. The most common translations are and and but, I have chosen the latter. It is also translated in Matthew 10:17 and elsewhere as ‘however’ showing that it can have a function just as ‘but’ does in english, but until I check that further we’ll just say but.

That would leave the translation virtually exactly the same. The only changes are to the more ordinary, that is to say, only two uncommon translations are swapped for common interpretations. So let’s copy and paste Matthew 26:14-17, and change the translation of only the two words above, stripping all punctuation which was not in the original texts, however I will leave the quotes as they are not relevant. We also remove capitalization, as Koine Greek was written without upper or lower cases.

Then one of the twelve the one called Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and asked “what are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver from then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over on the first day of the festival of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked “where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the passover?”

Now, where would you put the period? I did not change the two words mentioned above, the above passage is literally just the NIV copied and pasted without punctuation and capitalization. From that, we just remove the added word “day” which is not in the original Greek by any translation, but rather a word added to help clarification, as noted in KJV by it’s italics. So you don’t need to change a single translation, in most translations, to make this work. It works out of the box. I will add punctuation this time.

Then one of the twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and asked “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver, from then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over on the first of the festival of unleavened bread. The disciples came to Jesus and asked “where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the passover?”

The grammar added is not part of the original texts, and it’s a very late addition, so it’s responsible for many errors. If you look at the other “certain” proof that the Last Supper was a Passover, you’ll find them the exact same later artificial decisions as the cause, rather than the underlying text.

As perhaps the second most prominent example of that, we have Mark 14:12. Mark 14:11 is cut off too early, when it makes much more sense to read:

So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over on the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb.

Making Jesus’s first words as to the Last Supper:

Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” 3 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”

But wait, you say. He just said he was eating the Passover! No, he said he was eating the Pascha, which many translators translate to mean Passover, but looking at the interlinear every ever modern English translation shows that in Mark 14:12 the word pascha is first translated as the Passover Lamb, and then later in the same exact sentence as Passover, when the context does not change and so should both be the Passover Lamb. You’ll notice Jesus says that they need to prepare to eat the Passover Lamb, Jesus is the Passover Lamb.

“For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”

1 Corinthians 5:7

“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”

– John 1:29

Christ is the Passover Lamb, that is a fact laid out in plain simple English in the scriptures. We don’t have to ask why he said to prepare to eat the Passover Lamb before the start of the Passover date – he broke the bread at that supper and said for all to eat the bread, for it is his body. Christ said to drink from the cup, as it was his blood. Nowadays, most Christians eat the Passover Lamb, without even knowing why they are, at communion.

Now, let’s start building a step by step chronologic account.

On the daytime, the 13th still, before the date of Passover, the 14th as commanded in the Old Testament, Jesus asked his disciples to prepare for the Last Supper. After eating, he and his disciples went out to the Mount of Olives after sunset, which means it was then the 14th. If Jesus was not killed, that would mean he would have had the proper full day fast broken at the next sunset, which is how it is observed in modern times as well. Remember, the Passover in modern terminology refers to the 7 day Feast of Unleavened Bread, rather than the single date it is referred to in the Bible. The start of the 7 day Feast is started by eating the Passover Lamb, referred to in the New Testament as the Passover. Like a fish can’t see water, those living in those times would not have felt the need to clarify what they meant, but if we are to understand we must understand these distinctions.

As the sun went down announcing the start of Passover, the 14th of Nisan, Christ moves to fulfill the scripture and goes out and about. Jesus was captured right at the start of Passover, and was crucified early morning, dying early afternoon around 3pm. In the official festival calendar of Judaea, as used by the priests of the temple, Passover time was specified precisely. The slaughtering of the lambs for Passover occurred between 3pm and 5pm on the 14th day of the Jewish month Nisan (corresponding to March/April). This fulfilled the scriptures and made clear the role of Christ as the lamb of God. This day, Friday, was before a Sabbath and thus referred to as Preparation day, which as we know basically just means Friday except for High Sabbaths. Starting sunset after the death of Jesus Christ, was the first day of what we now call Passover, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Israel and the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread elsewhere and also in the past. We know that Preparation day = Friday before the Sabbath, we know this as all four accounts agree, and the Koine Greek word*, etymology below, used that is translated to ‘day of preparation’ is well established as meaning the day before a Sabbath, and this word in this context is further made certain in Mark 14:42. 

* The Greek that preparation day is derived from, and in context:

Παρασκευή

The Gospel of Mark 15:42:

Καὶ ἤδη ὀψίας γενομένης, ἐπεὶ ἦν παρασκευή, ὅ ἐστιν προσάββατονKaì ḗdē opsías genoménēs, epeì ên paraskeuḗ, hó estin prosábbaton

When evening had now come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath

The Gospel of Luke 23:54:

Καὶ ἡμέρα ἦν παρασκευῆς, καὶ σάββατον ἐπέφωσκεν.Kaì hēméra ên paraskeuês, kaì sábbaton epéphōsken.

And it was the day of preparation, and Sabbath was almost dawning.

The Gospel of John 19:14:

ἦν δὲ παρασκευὴ τοῦ πάσχα, ὥρα ἦν ὡς ἕκτη.ên dè paraskeuḕ toû páskha, hṓra ên hōs héktē.

And it was the [day of] preparation of the Passover, [and] it was about the sixth hour.

The Gospel of John 19:31:

Οἱ οὖν Ἰουδαῖοι, ἐπεὶ παρασκευὴ ἦν, ἵνα μὴ μείνῃ ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ τὰ σώματα ἐν τῷ σαββάτῳ, ἦν γὰρ μεγάλη ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνου τοῦ σαββάτου, ἠρώτησαν τὸν Πειλᾶτον ἵνα κατεαγῶσιν αὐτῶν τὰ σκέλη καὶ ἀρθῶσιν.Hoi oûn Ioudaîoi, epeì paraskeuḕ ên, hína mḕ meínēi epì toû stauroû tà sṓmata en tôi sabbátōi, ên gàr megálē hē hēméra ekeínou toû sabbátou, ērṓtēsan tòn Peilâton hína kateagôsin autôn tà skélē kaì arthôsin.

Then the Jews, because it was [the day of] preparation, so that the bodies wouldn’t stay on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was an important day, asked Pilate for their legs to be broken and taken down.

The Gospel of John 19:42:

διὰ τὴν παρασκευὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίωνdià tḕn paraskeuḕn tôn Ioudaíōn

Thanks to the following two verses and more, we have confirmation that Jesus died on “Preparation Day,” that is to say, the day before the Sabbath. The first and third quote is from when Jesus died, the second is from the next day. 

Explicit references to preparation day being the day before the Sabbath:

Mark 15:42 The Burial of Jesus

It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.

Matt 27:62 The Guard at the Tomb

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. 

John 19:31

The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, and so that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day (for that Sabbath day was a high day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.

So this at least we can all agree on. Jesus died on Preparation day, the day before the Sabbath, which was the 15th.

So Jesus has his Last Supper prepared daytime of the 13th, eats his Last Supper going into the very start of the 14th, is captured the night of the 14th and crucified the morning of the 14th, dying around 3pm. We give the answer to the question of why Christ died so fast later in this text.

As noted in Mark 15:44-45:

Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph.

In addition, the two others who were hung with him were alive at the time Jesus died, which is why they had their legs broken and he did not, fulfilling the original requirement for the yearly Passover lamb give in Exodus 12:46,

“Do not break any of the bones” as noted by John 19:33: “But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.”

Don’t worry, there is a simple summary. I told you the concept itself was simple.

Simply by understanding that pesach, which is translated as the Passover, means both the 14th of Nisan and the paschal lamb, and ignoring arbitrary medieval punctuation in favor of the most logical punctuation, only removing what was never in any original texts and only ignoring two rare translations in favor of two common translations, we align the timelines. Similar disregarding of medieval divisions results in no particular date for Mary discovering the tomb.

The idea that, among other assumptions that make no sense, a gospel written by John, who was clearly aware of the prior gospels and even seemed to operate on the assumption that his readers would be familiar with them, would just totally change the timeline of the crucifixion without explanation is insane. As a publisher I could not imagine a writer today doing that, and the effort involved with writing in those times was much much higher, it begs belief that John would make such a glaring mistake, ten times over. That’s just one of the plethora of problems that first made me decide to figure out what the issue was once and for all, as the current explanations are either that the writers of the gospels made such glaring mistakes that they would have to be simpletons, or that they did not make a mistake but the explanations are so convoluted and twisted that even just describing them produces a text as long as mine, whereas the vast bulk of my text is not stating my position but proving it. The conclusions themselves could be summed up in a couple paragraphs, one even, and far more important than being convenient, they’re correct.

So there you have it, a clear timeline which when combined with our previous answer explaining Mary approaching the tomb, aligns all gospels into perfect unity without contradiction insofar as I can see.

Which brings us to our next question: Why did Jesus die so fast? How could he be martyred in the morning, and dead by afternoon?

This was due to the fact that Jesus was attacked long before being put on the cross.

As a start, he was beaten up for an extended period of time, which is not as pleasant nor as inconsequential as movies make it out to be, especially when there are multiple Roman soldiers attacking and you will not fight back. In addition, as the four gospels attest to, he was scourged.

What does being scourged by the Romans look like?

We can only rely on ancient descriptions, such as that of Horace, who lived just before Christ, dying within 50 years of Christ’s death, who called it “a rule to assign fair penalties to offenses, lest you flay with the terrible scourge (horribili flagello) those who are only deserving of the lash.”

Anybody who knows how bad the lashes were in that time, a severe disfigurement that caused months of pain, understands that when lashes are referred to as an almost casual, light punishment in relation to the scourge, that means the scourge was a really heinous punishment. This was a punishment that could not be used on any Roman Citizen.

Scourging, or verberatio by the Romans, was reserved for the death penalty, not coincidently. Flavius Josephus tells of flagellations in Palestine that exposed the victim’s innards. The term itself might be used in many contexts historically, but let’s be clear what scourging meant to the Romans in that time. A multi-ended whip was used, to which at the end were attached sharp pieces of metal or occasionally bone. Think of a whip that stabs you wherever it makes contact, being beaten into you by a Roman soldier for a duration of time long enough to satisfy a crowd. As this was a public event, and Jesus was by far the most infamous person being crucified that day, he would have received the strongest scourging, and that is after being beaten. It was Jesus who was beaten and tortured for hours upon hours, it seems likely that he would have been half dead before even being put on the cross.

When you understand that, it makes perfect sense that Jesus would die by the afternoon. Blood loss, all kinds of external and internal damage, and of course the crucifixion itself would compound every other problem while creating many more, even modern estimates for how long a healthy male would survive on a crucifix are around 24hrs before dying of “suffocation, loss of body fluids and multiple organ failure.”

If you have any questions at all or doubts that are not already addressed in this text, please comment below. I’m here to share and so if you have any doubts leave your contact information in your comment, or send your questions privately, just click on contact and send in any questions. I will work for you, and you will get your answer.