Chap. XIX.—Of the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus; And the Predictions of These Events.

What more can now be said respecting the crime of the Jews, than that they were then blinded and seized with incurable madness, who read these things daily, and yet neither understood them, nor were able to be on their guard so as not to do them? Therefore, being lifted up and nailed to the cross, He cried to the Lord with a loud voice, and of His own accord gave up His spirit. And at the same hour there was an earthquake; and the veil of the temple, which separated the two tabernacles, was rent into two parts; and the sun suddenly withdrew its light, and there was darkness from the sixth756    i.e., from noon. [Elucidation IV.]   even to the ninth hour. Of which event the prophet Amos testifies:757    Amos viii. 9, 10.   “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that the sun shall go down at noon, and the daylight shall be darkened; and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and your songs into lamentation.” Also Jeremiah:758    Jer. xv. 9.   “She who brings forth is affrighted, and vexed in spirit; her sun is gone down while it was yet mid-day; she hath been ashamed and confounded;759    Confusa est et maledicta.   and the residue of them will I give to the sword in the sight of their enemies.” And the Sibyl:—  

When these things were done, even by the heavenly prodigies, they were not able to understand their crime.  

But since He had foretold that on the third day He should rise again from the dead, fearing lest, the body having been stolen by the disciples, and removed, all should believe that He had risen, and there should be a much greater disturbance among the people, they took Him down from the cross, and having shut Him up in a tomb, they securely surrounded it with a guard of soldiers. But on the third day, before light, there was an earthquake, and the sepulchre was suddenly opened; and the guard, who were astonished and stupefied with fear, seeing nothing, He came forth uninjured and alive from the sepulchre, and went into Galilee to seek His disciples: but nothing was found in the sepulchre except the grave-clothes in which they had enclosed and wrapt His body. Now, that He would not remain in hell,760    i.e., Hades, the place of departed spirits.   but rise again on the third day, had been foretold by the prophets. David says, in the fifteenth Psalm:761    Ps. xvi. 10.   “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer Thine holy one to see corruption.” Also in the third Psalm:762    Ps. iii. 5.   “I laid me down to sleep, and took my rest, and rose again, for the Lord sustained me.” Hosea also, the first of the twelve prophets, testified of His resurrection:763    Hos. xiii. 13, 14.   “This my Son is wise, therefore He will not remain in the anguish of His sons: and I will redeem Him from the power764    De manu inferorum.   of the grave. Where is thy judgment, O death? or where is thy sting?” The same also in another place:765    Hos. vi. 2.   “After two days, He will revive us in the third day.” And therefore the Sibyl said, that after three days’ sleep he would put an end to death:—  

For He gained life for us by overcoming death. No hope, therefore, of gaining immortality is given to man, unless he shall believe on Him, and shall take up that cross to be borne and endured.  

CAPUT XIX. De Jesu morte, sepultura et resurrectione; atque de iis rebus praedicta.

Quid amplius jam de facinore Judaeorum dici potest, quam excaecatos tum fuisse, atque insanabili furore correptos, qui haec quotidie legentes neque intellexerunt, neque quin facerent cavere potuerunt? Suspensus igitur atque affixus exclamavit ad Dominum voce magna, et ultro spiritum posuit. Et eadem hora terrae motus factus est. Et velum templi, quod separabat duo tabernacula, scissum est in duas partes; et sol repente subductus est, et ab hora 0510B sexta usque in nonam tenebrae fuerunt. Qua de re 0511A Amos 0511A propheta testatur: Et erit in illo die, dicit Dominus, occidet sol meridie, et tenebrabitur dies lucis; et convertam dies festos vestros in luctum, et cantica vestra in lamentationem. Item Hieremias: Exterrita est quae parit, et taeduit animam; et subivit sol ei, cum adhuc medius dies esset; confusa est, et maledicta: reliquos eorum in gladium dabo in conspectu inimicorum eorum. Et Sibylla: Ναοῦ δὲ σχισθῆ τὸ πέτασμα, καὶ ἤματι μέσσῳ Νὺξ ἔσται σκοτόεσσα πελώριος ἐν τρίσιν ὤραις.Cum haec facta essent, ne prodigiis quidem coelestibus facinus suum intelligere quiverunt.

0512A Sed quoniam praedixerat se tertio die ab inferis resurrecturum, metuentes ne a discipulis surrepto et amoto corpore, universi resurrexisse eum crederent, et fieret multo major in plebe confusio, detraxerunt eum cruci, et conclusum in monumento firmiter militari custodia circumdederunt. Verum tertio die, ante lucem terrae motu facto, repente patefactum est sepulcrum, et custodibus, quos attonitos obstupefecerat pavor, nihil videntibus, integer e sepulcro ac vivus egressus, in Galilaeam profectus est, ut discipulos suos quaereret: in sepulcro vero nihil repertum est, nisi exuviae quibus involutum corpus incluserant. 0513A Illum autem apud inferos non remansurum, sed die tertio resurrecturum, prophetae cecinerant. David in psalmo 0513A XV: Non derelinques animam meam apud inferos, nec dabis sanctum tuum videre interitum. Item in tertio: Ego dormivi et somnum cepi, et resurrexi; quoniam Dominus auxiliatus est mihi. Oseas (c. XIII) quoque primus XII prophetarum de resurrectione ejus testificatus est: Hic filius meus sapiens; propter quod nunc non resistet in tribulatione filiorum suorum, et de manu inferorum eruam eum. Ubi est judicium tuum, mors, aut ubi est aculeus tuus? Idem alio loco: Vivificabit nos post biduum die tertio. Et ideo Sibylla impositurum esse morti terminum dixit post tridui somnum: Καὶ θανάτου μοῖραν τελέσει, τρίτον ἧμαρ ὑπνώσας, Καὶ τότ᾽ ἀποφθίμενον ἀναλύσας εἰς φάος ἥξει 0513B Πρῶτος ἀναστάσεως, κλητοῖς ἀρχὴν ὑποδείξας.Vitam enim nobis acquisivit morte superata. Nulla igitur spes alia consequendae immortalitatis homini datur, nisi crediderit in eum, et illam crucem portandam patiendamque susceperit.