Matthew 27:65

65 "You have^[a] a guard [of soldiers],"^[b] Pilate told them. "Go and make it as secure as you know how."

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 and said, "Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive, He said, 'After three days I will rise again.'

64 Therefore give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come, steal Him, and tell the people, 'He has been raised from the dead.' Then the last deception will be worse than the first."

65 "You have a guard [of soldiers]," Pilate told them. "Go and make it as secure as you know how."

66 Then they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting the guard.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "Take
• [b]. It is uncertain whether this guard consisted of temple police or Roman soldiers.