Bible Strands
Luke 23:56
Then they returned to prepare spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath, according to the commandment.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The women who witnessed Jesus’ burial return to prepare spices and perfumes, then observe the Sabbath rest in obedience to the commandment.
The words — ὑποστρέψασαι (hupostrepsasai) means “having returned,” and ἡτοίμασαν (hētoimasan) means “they prepared,” capturing the immediate sequence of the women’s actions after viewing the tomb.
The thread — This account links to their Sabbath rest and subsequent tomb visit in Luke 24:1, their purchase of spices after the Sabbath ended in Mark 16:1, and the Sabbath work prohibition in Deuteronomy 5:14.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that religious obligation temporarily halted their mourning preparations until the Sabbath concluded.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.
Cross-references
- Luke 24:1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared.
- Mark 16:1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could go and anoint the body of Jesus.
- Deuteronomy 5:14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox or donkey or any of your livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest as you do.
- Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
- Exodus 31:14 Keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Anyone who profanes it must surely be put to death. Whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from among his people.
- Exodus 35:2 For six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on that day must be put to death.
- Isaiah 58:13 If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath, from doing as you please on My holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable, if you honor it by not going your own way or seeking your own pleasure or speaking idle words,
- Jeremiah 17:24 If, however, you listen carefully to Me, says the LORD, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, and keep the Sabbath day holy, and do no work on it,
- 2 Chronicles 16:14 And he was buried in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier that was full of spices and various blended perfumes; then they made a great fire in his honor.