Matthew 27:65

65 Pilate told them, "You will have a guard. Go ahead and secure it the best you can."

Matthew 27:65 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 27:65

Pilate said unto them, ye have a watch
Meaning either the watch of the temple, said to be placed in the tower of Antonia, for the service of it: hence mention is made of the captain of the temple, ( Acts 4:1 ) , but it is not likely they would remove the temple guards, to watch a sepulchre night and day: or rather, therefore, the soldiers that had had the care of the crucifixion of Christ, and watched him on the cross, are designed: the words may be read imperatively, "have yea watch", or "take a watch", as the Ethiopic version renders it, and which seems best; for if they had a watch already, what occasion had they to have applied to Pilate for one? but having none, he gives them leave to take one, or such a number of soldiers as were sufficient:

go your way;
as fast as you can, take the watch as soon as you please, make no stay, but satisfy yourselves in this point:

make [it] as sure as you can;
or, as you know how to do it, and what will be proper and necessary.

Matthew 27:65 In-Context

63 They said, "Sir, we just remembered that that liar announced while he was still alive, 'After three days I will be raised.'

64 We've got to get that tomb sealed until the third day. There's a good chance his disciples will come and steal the corpse and then go around saying, 'He's risen from the dead.' Then we'll be worse off than before, the final deceit surpassing the first."

65 Pilate told them, "You will have a guard. Go ahead and secure it the best you can."

66 So they went out and secured the tomb, sealing the stone and posting guards.