Luke 24

¹ On the first day of the week, at the first sign of dawn, they went to the tomb with the spices they hadprepared.

² They found that the stone had been rol ed away from the tomb,

³ but on entering they could not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

⁴ As they stood there puzzled about this, two men in bril iant clothes suddenly appeared at their side.

⁵ Terrified, the women bowed their heads to the ground. But the two said to them, 'Why look among thedead for someone who is alive?

⁶ He is not here; he has risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee:

⁷ that the Son of man was destined to be handed over into the power of sinful men and be crucified, andrise again on the third day.'

⁸ And they remembered his words.

⁹ And they returned from the tomb and told al this to the Eleven and to al the others.

¹⁰ The women were Mary of Magdala, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. And the other womenwith them also told the apostles,

¹¹ but this story of theirs seemed pure nonsense, and they did not believe them.

¹² Peter, however, went off to the tomb, running. He bent down and looked in and saw the linen clothsbut nothing else; he then went back home, amazed at what had happened.

¹³ Now that very same day, two of them were on their way to a vil age cal ed Emmaus, seven miles fromJerusalem,

¹⁴ and they were talking together about al that had happened.

¹⁵ And it happened that as they were talking together and discussing it, Jesus himself came up andwalked by their side;

¹⁶ but their eyes were prevented from recognising him.

¹⁷ He said to them, 'What are all these things that you are discussing as you walk along?' They stopped,their faces downcast.

¹⁸ Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered him, 'You must be the only person staying in Jerusalemwho does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days.'

¹⁹ He asked, 'What things?' They answered, 'Al about Jesus of Nazareth, who showed himself aprophet powerful in action and speech before God and the whole people;

²⁰ and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had himcrucified.

²¹ Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free. And this is not al : two whole dayshave now gone by since it al happened;

²² and some women from our group have astounded us: they went to the tomb in the early morning,

²³ and when they could not find the body, they came back to tel us they had seen a vision of angelswho declared he was alive.

²⁴ Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but ofhim they saw nothing.'

²⁵ Then he said to them, 'You foolish men! So slow to believe al that the prophets have said!

²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer before entering into his glory?'

²⁷ Then, starting with Moses and going through al the prophets, he explained to them the passagesthroughout the scriptures that were about himself.

²⁸ When they drew near to the vil age to which they were going, he made as if to go on;

²⁹ but they pressed him to stay with them saying, 'It is nearly evening, and the day is almost over.' So hewent in to stay with them.

³⁰ Now while he was with them at table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it andhanded it to them.

³¹ And their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he had vanished from their sight.

³² Then they said to each other, 'Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road andexplained the scriptures to us?'

³³ They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven assembled togetherwith their companions,

³⁴ who said to them, 'The Lord has indeed risen and has appeared to Simon.'

³⁵ Then they told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised him at thebreaking of bread.

³⁶ They were still talking about al this when he himself stood among them and said to them, 'Peace bewith you!'

³⁷ In a state of alarm and fright, they thought they were seeing a ghost.

³⁸ But he said, 'Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts stirring in your hearts?

³⁹ See by my hands and my feet that it is I myself. Touch me and see for yourselves; a ghost has noflesh and bones as you can see I have.'

⁴⁰ And as he said this he showed them his hands and his feet.

⁴¹ Their joy was so great that they stil could not believe it, as they were dumbfounded; so he said tothem, 'Have you anything here to eat?'

⁴² And they offered him a piece of gril ed fish,

⁴³ which he took and ate before their eyes.

⁴⁴ Then he told them, 'This is what I meant when I said, while I was stil with you, that everything writtenabout me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms, was destined to be fulfilled.'

⁴⁵ He then opened their minds to understand the scriptures,

⁴⁶ and he said to them, 'So it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from thedead,

⁴⁷ and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to al nations,beginning from Jerusalem.

⁴⁸ You are witnesses to this.

⁴⁹ 'And now I am sending upon you what the Father has promised. Stay in the city, then, until you areclothed with the power from on high.'

⁵⁰ Then he took them out as far as the outskirts of Bethany, and raising his hands he blessed them.

⁵¹ Now as he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up to heaven.

⁵² They worshipped him and then went back to Jerusalem ful of joy;

⁵³ and they were continually in the Temple praising God.