62 The bosses of the Jewish ceremonies got together with the Pharisee mob, that were strong for the Jewish law, and they went to Pilate. He was the Roman boss at that time. 63 They said, “Sir, we can remember the things Jesus said while he was still alive. That man tried to get people to believe things that are not true. He said, ‘I will die, and then after 2 nights, on the 3rd day, I will come alive again.’* Matthew 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34; Luke 9:22; 18:31-33 64 Maybe his followers will come and steal his body, and then tell everyone that he came alive again. If they do that, then we’ll be worse off than before. So we want to stop them from doing that. We want somebody to guard the cave that has Jesus’s body, and keep people away from it for 3 days.”

65 Pilate said, “All right. You can take a mob of soldiers to guard that cave. Do whatever you can to stop anybody from moving that stone.”

66 So they tied a rope around that stone and put wax on the knot, and they made Pilate’s mark in that wax. Then they would know if somebody tried to move that stone. And they told the soldiers, “Guard this cave. Don’t let anyone touch it.”