Mark 15:46

So Joseph bought a linen cloth, took down the body of Jesus, wrapped it in the cloth, and placed it in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Mark narrates Joseph of Arimathea’s actions immediately after Pilate grants him Jesus’s corpse and before the women observe the burial site. The account records the physical preparation and interment of Jesus.

The words — ἀγοράσας (agorasas) denotes the completed legal act of purchasing, while ἐνείλησεν (eneilēsen) specifies the physical winding of the body. These terms anchor the narrative in concrete, documented preparation rather than abstract theology.

The thread — The burial details parallel Matthew 27:59’s account of linen wrapping and echo Isaiah 53:9’s prophecy of a grave with the rich. The rock-cut tomb also recalls the self-carved tomb condemned in Isaiah 22:16.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition of Jesus’s physical death and the deliberate, documented nature of his burial. It requires the reader to verify the historical sequence before drawing theological conclusions.

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 he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.

Cross-references

Isaiah 53:9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Matthew 27:59 So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
Isaiah 22:16 What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?
Mark 16:3 They were asking one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb?”
John 11:38 Jesus, once again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
Matthew 28:2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, rolled away the stone, and sat on it.
Luke 23:53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had yet been laid.
John 19:38 Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (but secretly for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he came and removed His body.