Chapter 24

   And, on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices they had prepared.  

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   But they found the stone rolled back from the tomb,  

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   and on entering they found that the body of the Lord Jesus was not there.  

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   At this they were in great perplexity, when suddenly there stood by them two men whose raiment flashed like lightning.  

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   The women were terrified; but, as they stood with their faces bowed to the ground, the men said to them, 'Why do you search among the dead for Him who is living?  

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   He is not here. He has come back to life. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,  

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   when He told you that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.'  

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   Then they remembered His words,  

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   and returning from the tomb they reported all this to the Eleven and to all the rest.  

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   The women were Mary of Magdala, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; and they and the rest of the women related all this to the Apostles.  

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   But the whole story seemed to them an idle tale; they could not believe the women.  

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   Peter, however, rose and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw nothing but the linen cloths: so he went away to his own home, wondering at what had happened.  

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   On that same day two of the disciples were walking to Emmaus, a village seven or eight miles from Jerusalem,  

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   and were conversing about all these recent events;  

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   and, in the midst of their conversation and discussion, Jesus Himself came and joined them,  

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   though they were prevented from recognizing Him.  

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   'What is the subject,' He asked them, 'on which you are talking so earnestly, as you walk?' And they stood still, looking full of sorrow.  

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   Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered, 'Are you a stranger lodging alone in Jerusalem, that you have known nothing of the things that have lately happened in the city?'  

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   'What things?' He asked. 'The things about Jesus the Nazarene,' they said, 'who was a Prophet powerful in work and word before God and all the people;  

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   and how our High Priests and Rulers delivered Him up to be sentenced to death, and crucified Him.  

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   But we were hoping that it was He who was about to ransom Israel. Yes, and moreover it was the day before yesterday that these things happened.  

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   And, besides, some of the women of our company have amazed us. They went to the tomb at daybreak,  

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   and, finding that His body was not there, they came and declared to us that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive.  

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   Thereupon some of our party went to the tomb and found things just as the women had said; but Jesus Himself they did not see.'  

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   'O dull-witted men,' He replied, 'with minds so slow to believe all that the Prophets have spoken!  

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   Was there not a necessity for the Christ thus to suffer, and then enter into His glory?'  

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   And, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them the passages in Scripture which refer to Himself.  

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   When they had come near the village to which they were going, He appeared to be going further.  

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   But they pressed Him to remain with them. 'Because,' said they, 'it is getting towards evening, and the day is nearly over.' So He went in to stay with them.  

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   But as soon as He had sat down with them, and had taken the bread and had blessed and broken it, and was handing it to them,  

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   their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. But He vanished from them.  

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   'Were not our hearts,' they said to one another, 'burning within us while He talked to us on the way and explained the Scriptures to us?'  

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   So they rose and without an hour's delay returned to Jerusalem, and found the Eleven and the rest met together, who said to them,  

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   'Yes, it is true: the Master has come back to life. He has been seen by Simon.'  

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   Then they related what had happened on the way, and how He had been recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.  

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   While they were thus talking, He Himself stood in their midst and said, 'Peace be to you!'  

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   Startled, and in the utmost alarm, they thought they were looking at a spirit;  

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   but He said to them, 'Why such alarm? And why are there such questionings in your minds?  

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   See my hands and my feet--it is my very self. Feel me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have.'  

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   And then He showed them His hands and His feet.  

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   But, while they still could not believe it for joy and were full of astonishment, He asked them, 'Have you any food here?'  

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   And they gave Him a piece of roasted fish,  

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   and He took it and ate it in their presence.  

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   And He said to them, 'This is what I told you while I was still with you--that everything must be fulfilled that is written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me.'  

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   Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,  

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   and He said, 'Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise again from among the dead;  

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   and that proclamation would be made, in His name, of repentance and forgiveness of sins to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem.  

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   You are witnesses as to these things.  

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   And remember that I am about to send out my Father's promised gift to rest upon you. But, as for you, wait patiently in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.'  

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   And He brought them out to within view of Bethany, and then lifted up His hands and blessed them.  

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   And while He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into Heaven.  

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   They worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.  

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   Afterwards they were continually in attendance at the Temple, blessing God.  

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