Passage

Matthew 28.11-15

"Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, 'You are to say, "His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep." And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.' And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day." (Matthew 28:11-15, NASB95)

Matthew alone preserves the early Jewish counter-explanation of the empty tomb: not that Jesus rose, but that his disciples stole the body. The pericope is one of the New Testament's most pointed apologetic moves and one of its strongest internal witnesses to the historicity of the empty tomb itself, because the rival explanation Matthew reports presupposes the very fact it tries to explain away.

Book: Matthew · NASB95

Immediate context (4 PD translations)

ASV (ASV)

"9. And behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. 10. Then saith Jesus unto them, Fear not: go tell my brethren that they depart into Galilee, and there shall they see me."

"11. Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city, and told unto the chief priests all the things that were come to pass. 12. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave much money unto the soldiers, 13. saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. 14. And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and rid you of care. 15. So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continueth until this day."

"16. But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17. And when they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted." (Matthew 28:9-17, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"9. As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” They came and took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10. Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me.”"

"11. Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief priests all the things that had happened. 12. When they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave a large amount of silver to the soldiers, 13. saying, “Say that his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. 14. If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him and make you free of worry.” 15. So they took the money and did as they were told. This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continues until today."

"16. But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them. 17. When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted." (Matthew 28:9-17, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"9. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. 10. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me."

"11. Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. 12. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, 13. Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. 14. And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. 15. So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day."

"16. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted." (Matthew 28:9-17, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"9. and as they were going to tell to his disciples, then lo, Jesus met them, saying, 'Hail!' and they having come near, laid hold of his feet, and did bow to him. 10. Then saith Jesus to them, 'Fear ye not, go away, tell to my brethren that they may go away to Galilee, and there they shall see me.'"

"11. And while they are going on, lo, certain of the watch having come to the city, told to the chief priests all the things that happened, 12. and having been gathered together with the elders, counsel also having taken, they gave much money to the soldiers, 13. saying, 'Say ye, that his disciples having come by night, stole him, we being asleep; 14. and if this be heard by the governor, we will persuade him, and you keep free from anxiety.' 15. And they, having received the money, did as they were taught, and this account was spread abroad among Jews till this day."

"16. And the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mount where Jesus appointed them, 17. and having seen him, they bowed to him, but some did waver." (Matthew 28:9-17, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Matthew the evangelist (traditionally the tax-collector-apostle), narrating; reported speech of the chief priests and the bribed soldiers.
Audience: Matthew's primarily Jewish-Christian readership, c. AD 60-80, for whom the "stolen body" story was still in active circulation ("to this day," v. 15).
Location: Jerusalem, immediately after the Sunday-morning empty-tomb discovery; the chief-priest council scene.
Time period: events Passover c. AD 30/33; Matthean composition c. AD 60-80, traditional Antioch.

Theological reading

The pericope contains three distinct historical witnesses pressed together. First, the guards' report (v. 11): pagan Roman soldiers, whose only stake was their own safety, returned to the priests and "reported all the things that had happened", that is, they confirmed the tomb was empty and that they had been overwhelmed by something they could not explain. The text concedes their report without elaboration; the priests do not dispute it. Second, the bribe (v. 12-14): the priests' chosen counter-narrative is that the disciples stole the body while the guards slept. The story is self-defeating on its face, sleeping witnesses cannot identify thieves, and would have exposed the soldiers to capital penalty under Roman military discipline, hence the priests' offer to "win the governor over." Third, the persistence of the story (v. 15): "this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day." Matthew's testimony is that, even decades later, the dominant Jewish counter-explanation of Christian preaching was not "Jesus's body was still in the tomb" but "Jesus's body was stolen." The form of the contemporary counter-claim is the strongest internal early evidence that the tomb was, in fact, empty.

The text's apologetic force is amplified by the criterion of embarrassment: Matthew preserves and circulates the rival explanation of the central Christian claim. Forged or legendary resurrection accounts characteristically suppress opposing testimony; Matthew elevates it, names its source, names the means of its propagation, and lets the reader judge. Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho §108) and Tertullian (De Spectaculis §30) both note that the stolen-body story was still in circulation in the second century, corroborating v. 15's "to this day" not as legendary embellishment but as accurate report of an enduring Jewish counter-position.

The pericope works against four common skeptical alternatives at once:

Tomb not empty. Refuted by the rival explanation Matthew records: even the chief priests grant the body is gone.
Wrong tomb / disciples mistaken. Refuted by the same: the priests have direct guard-testimony about which tomb.
Hallucination theory. Untouched by v. 11-15 directly, but constrained: a hallucination cannot empty a tomb, and the priests are accounting for an empty tomb.
Stolen-body theory itself. Internally weak (sleeping witnesses, no motive for disciples who scattered in fear, no body ever produced when its production would have ended Christianity in a week, the early martyrdoms of those who would have known the theft was a lie). The objection survives only by ignoring its own incoherence.

The deeper theological note: Matthew, the most Jewish of the four gospels, the one most invested in OT-fulfillment, refuses to flinch from naming Jewish leadership as the source of the cover story. His Gospel ends with a Great Commission to all nations (v. 19) and an implicit indictment of the Jerusalem authorities who paid silver to suppress the resurrection. The parallel with the silver paid to Judas (cf. Matthew 26.14-16, Matthew 27:3-10) is not accidental: both betrayals are purchased.

Apologetic deployment

Standard usage in a Minimal Facts Argument presentation:

The empty tomb is one of the historically best-attested facts about Jesus's death (multiple independent gospel sources plus this Matthean record of the counter-explanation).
The earliest counter-explanation, recorded by an opponent-friendly source, presupposes the empty tomb.
The stolen-body theory fails internally (sleeping witnesses, missing motive, no produced body, early-disciple martyrdom).
Hallucination and wrong-tomb theories cannot account for an empty tomb either.
Bodily resurrection remains as the best inference to the best explanation of the empty tomb plus the post-mortem appearances plus the rise of resurrection-shaped early Christian preaching in Jerusalem itself.

Key words

klepto, kleptō, "to steal." v. 13's verb for the alleged theft; the same root behind English "kleptomaniac" and used elsewhere of literal theft (cf. Matthew 6:19-21).
tereo, tēreō, "to keep, guard." Background to "the guard" (koustōdia, a Latin loan word for the Roman watch detail).
argyrion, argyrion, "silver, money." The same word used of the thirty pieces paid to Judas (cf. Matthew 26.15); Matthew's narrative knits the two silver-bribes together.
G1096 - ginomai, ginomai, "to come about, happen." v. 11's "all that had happened" understates: the guards saw a divine intervention they cannot describe.
G3056 - logos, logos, "word, account, report." v. 15's "this saying / account", the logos the priests purchase.

Theological themes

Empty tomb attested by hostile witness. The strongest form of historical confirmation.
Criterion of embarrassment. Matthew preserves the rival explanation rather than suppressing it.
Resurrection vs counter-narrative. The whole apologetic for the resurrection runs partly through showing the counter-explanations fail.
The silver motif. v. 12's "large sum of money" pairs with the thirty pieces paid for the betrayal; institutional opposition to Christ moves by purchase.
Roman / Jewish complicity. The verses depict Jerusalem authorities recruiting Roman soldiers to suppress the resurrection news; both polities are implicated.

Cross-references

Matthew 27.62-66, the immediately prior pericope, the request for and stationing of the guard. Required setup for v. 11-15 to function.
Matthew 28.1-10, the empty tomb itself; v. 11-15 is the counter-narrative chapter.
Matthew 26.14-16, Judas paid in silver; the parallel-bribe motif.
Matthew 27:3-10, Judas returns the silver; the priests use it to buy a field. v. 12 echoes the same financial machinery.
1 Corinthians 15.3-8, Paul's early creedal summary of the resurrection appearances; the post-empty-tomb data point.
Acts 2.22-36, Peter at Pentecost preaches the resurrection in Jerusalem weeks later, the very location where producing a body would have ended the movement.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.