Gospel of Peter

1 ...but of the Jews no one washed his hands, neither did Herod nor any one of his judges. Since they were [un]willing to wash, Pilate stood up. 2 Then Herod the king orders the Lord to be taken away, saying to them "Do what I commanded you to do to him."

2 Joseph stood there, the friend of Pilate and the Lord, and knowing that they were about to crucify him, he went to Pilate and asked for the body of the Lord for burial. 2 And Pilate sent to Herod and asked for his body. 3 And Herod replied, "Brother Pilate, even if no one had asked for him, we would have buried him since the sabbath is drawing near. For it is written in the Law, "The sun must not set upon one who has been executed.'" And he turned him over to the people on the day before the Unleavened Bread, their feast.

3 They took out the Lord and kept pushing him along as they ran; and they would say, "Let's drag the son of God since we have him in our power." 2 And they threw a purple robe around him and made him sit upon the judgment seat and said, "Judge justly, King of Israel." 3 And one of them brought a crown a thorns and set it on the Lord's head. 4 And others standing around spat in his eyes, and others slapped his face, while others poked him with a rod. Some kept flogging him as they said, "Let us pay proper respect to the son of God."

4 And they brought two criminals and crucified the Lord between them. But he kept silence, as one feeling no pain. 2 And when they set the cross upright, they wrote thereon: "This is the King of Israel." 3 And they laid his garments before him, and divided them among themselves and gambloed for them. 4 But one of those criminals reproached them, saying, "We suffer for the evils which we have done; but this man which hath become the saviour of men, what has he done to you?" 5 And they were amgry with him, and commanded that his legs should not be broken, that so he might die in torment.

5 Now it was midday and darkness prevailed over all Judaea. They were troubled and in an agony lest the sun should have set for he still lived. For it is written that, "The sun should not set upon him that hath been executed." 2 And one of them said, "Give him vinegar and gall to drink." And they mixed it and gave it to him to drink. 3 And they fulfilled all things and brought their sins upon their own heads. 4 Now many went about with lamps, supposing that it was night, and they laid down. 5 And the Lord cried out aloud saying, "My power, my power, you have forsaken me." When he had said this, he was taken up. 6 And in the same hour the veil of the temple of Jerusalem was rent in two.

6 And then they pulled the nails from the hands of the Lord and laid him on the ground. And the whole earth was shaken, and there came a great fear on all. 2 Then the sun came out, and it was found to be the ninth hour. 3 Now the Jews rejoiced, and gave his body unto Joseph to bury it, because he had beheld the good things which he did. 4 And Joseph took the Lord and washed him and wrapped him in linen and brought him unto his own tomb, which is called the "Joseph's Garden."

7 Then the Jews and the elders and the priests, when they perceived how great evil they had done themselves, began to lament and to say, "Woe unto our sins! The judgement and the end of Jerusalem is near!" 2 But I began weeping with my friends, and out of fear we would have hid ourselves for we were sought after by them as criminals, and as thinking to set the temple on fire. 3And beside all these things we were fasting, and we sat mourning and weeping night and day until the Sabbath.

8 But the scribes and Pharisees and elders gathered together, for they had heard that all the people were murmuring and beating their breasts, saying, "If these very great signs have come to pass at his death, he must have been innocent!" 2 And the elders were afraid and came unto Pilate, begging him and saying, 3 "Give us soldiers that we may guard his tomb for three days, lest his disciples come and steal him away and the people suppose that he is risen from the dead, and do us harm." 4And Pilate gave them Petronius the centurion with soldiers to watch the tomb. And the elders and scribes came with them unto the tomb. 5 All who were there with the soldiers rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb 6 and plastered seven seals on it. Then they pitched a tent there and kept watch.

9 Early in the morning, as the Sabbath dawned, there came a large crowd from Jerusalem and the surrounding areas to see the sealed tomb. 2 But during the night before the Lord's day dawned, as the soldiers were keeping guard two by two in every watch, there came a great sound in the sky, 3 and they saw the heavens opened and two men descend shining with a great light, and they drew near to the tomb. 4 The stone which had been set on the door rolled away by itself and moved to one side, and the tomb was opened and both of the young men went in.

10 Now when these soldiers saw that, they woke up the centurion and the elders (for they also were there keeping watch). 2 While they were yet telling them the things which they had seen, they saw three men come out of the tomb, two of them sustaining the other one, and a cross following after them. 3 The heads of the two they saw had heads that reached up to heaven, but the head of him that was led by them wen beyond heaven. 4 And they heard a voice out of the heavens saying, "Have you preached unto them that sleep?" 5 The answer that was heard from the cross was, "Yes!"

11 Those men took counsel with each other and thought to go and report these things to Pilate. 2 And while they were thinking the heavens were opened again and a man descended and entered the tomb. 3 When those who were with the centurion saw that, they hurried to go by night to Pilate and left the tomb that they were watching. They told all what they had seen and were in great despair saying, "He was certainly the son of God!" 4 Pilate answered them, saying, I do not have the blood of the son of God on my hands. This was all your doing." 5 Then all they came and begeed and pleaded with him to order the centurion and the soldiers to tell nothing of what they had seen. 6 "For," they said, "it is better for us to be guilty of the greatest sin before God, than to fall into the hands of the Jews and to be stoned." 7 Pilate therefore ordered the centurion and the soldiers that they should say nothing.

12 Early on the Lord's day, Mary of Magdala, a disciple of the Lord, was afraid of the Jews, for they were inflamed with rage, so she had not performed at the tomb of the Lord the things that are cusomary for women to do for their loved ones that have died. 2 She took with her some women friends and came unto the tomb where he had been laid. 3 And they feared lest the Jews would see them, and said, "Even if we were not able to weep and lament him on the day that he was crucified, let us do so now at his tomb. 4 But who will roll the stone away for us that is set upon the door of the tomb, so that we may enter in and sit beside him and do what needs to be done?" 5 The stone was indeed great. "We fear that someone might see us. And if we cannot roll the stone away, let us cast down at the door these things which we bring as a memorial of him, and we will weep and beat our breasts until we arrive home."

13 And they went and found the tomb open. They drew near to it and looked in and saw a young man sitting in the middle of the tomb; He had a fair countenance and was clad in very bright raiment. He said unto them, 2 Why are you here? Who do you seek? You're not looking for the one that was crucified? He is risen and is gone. If you don't believe it, look in and see the place where he was laid down, for he is not there. For he has risen and is gone to the place that he had come from. 3 Then the women fled in fear.

14 Now it was the last day of Unleavened Bread, and many were returning to their homes since the feast was ending. 2 But we, the twelve disciples of the Lord, continued weeping and mourning, and each one srill grieving for what had happened, left for his own home. 3 But I, Simon Peter, and Andrew my brother, took our fishing nets and went to the sea. With us was Levi, the son of Alphaeus, whom the Lord...

Early Christian Writings is copyright © Peter Kirby <E-Mail>.