Holy Week
1 Cor 15:3–4 (KJV)six days before the passover,
where Lazarus was
Why was not this ointment sold
Hosanna
Hosannain the temple
now the eventide was come— back to Bethany
on the morrow(Mark 11:12)
ye have made it a den of thieves
Have faith in God16
What think ye of Christ?
the end of the world
after two days is the feast of the passover
thirty pieces of silver(Matthew)
a large upper room furnished
when the even was come
With desire I have desired to eat this passover
and it was night17
this do in remembrance of me
could ye not watch with me one hour?
with lanterns and torches;
all the disciples forsook him, and fled
I am
When the morning was come
Jeremy the prophet; the words are mostly Zechariah's (see the note)
it was early; Herod Antipas mocks him (Luke)
the third hour
from the sixth hour … unto the ninth hour
about the ninth hour
It is finished25
the sabbath drew on
Thursday evening to Friday evening, hour by hour
When the morning was come
it was early
the third hour
from the sixth hour
about the ninth hour
when the even was come
according to the commandment
when the sabbath was past
he is risen
when it was yet dark(John 20:1)
as they went to tell his disciples
their words seemed to them as idle tales
The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon(the hour is not told)
toward evening
in breaking of bread
the same day at evening
How the dates were worked out
Dates are for AD 33 (System A): crucifixion Friday 3 April AD 33, 14 Nisan. In AD 30 every date is four days later (Friday 7 April); the weekdays are the same. Weekdays, full moon and sunrise/sunset are computed. A Jewish day began at sunset; hours were counted from sunrise (third hour ≈ 9 am, sixth = noon, ninth ≈ 3 pm).
Notes
1six days before the passover
(John 12:1) — Friday in most harmonies, Saturday in some. Travel on the Sabbath is unlikely, so most harmonies have him arrive on Friday before sunset.
2Nisan dates are daytime (each day began at sunset). Friday was 14 Nisan. Matthew, Mark and Luke call the Supper a Passover meal; John 18:28; 19:14 seem to put that meal on Friday evening. Astronomy gives Friday 14 Nisan in both likely years (3 April AD 33; 7 April AD 30). In AD 33 that Friday cannot have been 15 Nisan (the feast day that began at sunset with the Passover meal); in AD 30 that is "not impossible, but highly improbable" (Humphreys and Waddington 1992). Explanations: the Supper was a Passover-style meal held a day early; Galileans and Judeans counted the day differently (Hoehner 1977); or Jesus kept an older or a sectarian calendar, which would move the Supper to Tuesday or Wednesday (the views of Annie Jaubert, 1957, and Colin Humphreys, 2011). Others argue that in John "the passover" means the feast's other offerings, so that all four Gospels make Friday 15 Nisan (Smith 1991) — a view that astronomy rules out for AD 33 and makes highly improbable for AD 30. Bond (2013) surveys these views. Some popular books print "15 Nisan, 3 April AD 33" — astronomy does not allow it.
3John 12 tells the anointing before the entry; Matthew 26 and Mark 14 tell it later (Robertson: Tuesday evening). Robertson dates it Tuesday evening, the start of the Jewish Wednesday. Most harmonies see one event (Bethany, costly ointment, three hundred pence
). The woman is Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus (John 11:1–2; 12:2–3) — not Mary Magdalene. The anointing in Luke 7:36–50 is a different, earlier one in Galilee.
4"Palm Sunday" is a church name; of the Gospels only John 12:13 mentions branches of palm trees
. Matthew 21:8 and Mark 11:8 say branches from the trees; Luke 19:36 mentions garments only.
5With Friday as 14 Nisan, the 10th (the day Exodus 12:3 set for choosing the lamb) was Monday, not Sunday. Most harmonies (e.g. Robertson) put the entry on Sunday, On the next day
(John 12:12). Hoehner (1977), who also dates the crucifixion to 3 April AD 33, puts it on Monday 10 Nisan (30 March AD 33), the day Exodus 12:3 set for choosing the lamb — a link the Gospels do not make.
6Mark 11:11–15 puts the cleansing on the morrow
; Matthew and Luke tell it straight after the entry. Most harmonies follow Mark's day. John 2:13–22 tells of a cleansing at an earlier Passover; many count two cleansings.
7No Gospel event is dated to Wednesday; the plot and the bargain follow after two days is the feast of the passover
. Robertson places both on Tuesday evening, the start of the Jewish Wednesday. "Spy Wednesday" is a later church name for this day.
8A Jewish day ran from even unto even
— Supper, arrest, trials, cross and burial all fell on 14 Nisan.
9Some verses here (e.g. Luke 22:43–44; Mark 16:9–20) are missing from some of the oldest manuscripts. Many modern Bibles print these verses in brackets or with a note; the KJV prints them as part of the text.
10The Gospels give no year. The likely years with Friday 14 Nisan are AD 30 (7 April) and AD 33 (3 April); many scholars prefer AD 30. AD 27 is a remote possibility (Humphreys and Waddington 1992); some (Bond 2013) hold that the exact year cannot be recovered. This chart uses AD 33, which fits Luke 3:1 (Tiberius' fifteenth year, counted from his accession in AD 14: AD 28/29) with the three Passovers of John (John 2:13; 6:4; 11:55). In AD 30 every date on this chart is four days later (e.g. Sunday 29 March AD 33 = Sunday 2 April AD 30); the weekdays and the Nisan dates stay the same.
11Mark 15:25 the third hour
(≈ 9 am); John 19:14 the sentence about the sixth hour
. Explanations differ. Hours were counted from sunrise and named loosely (third, sixth, ninth). Some, like Robertson (1922), think John counted from midnight (about 6 am). The hour strip shows the morning as an estimate.
12Friday to Sunday is the third day
in Jewish counting; a minority holds a Wednesday or Thursday crucifixion. Part of a day counted as a day (Esther 4:16 with 5:1; Matthew 16:21). Robertson: "a small part of Friday, all of Saturday, and 10 or 11 hours of Sunday". Those who take three days and three nights
(Matthew 12:40) literally — as 72 hours, or as three full nights — propose Wednesday (Torrey 1907) or Thursday. In AD 33 neither day was 14 Nisan; in AD 30 a Thursday 14 Nisan is "not impossible, but highly improbable" (Humphreys and Waddington 1992).
13The Gospels mention different women and angels on Easter morning; this order is one common reconstruction. No Gospel gives the full order. Matthew 28:9 says Jesus met the women as they went to tell his disciples
; Mark 16:9 says he appeared first to Mary Magdalene
(in Mark's longer ending); John 20:1–18 names only one woman, Mary Magdalene. Luke 24:9–12 tells the women's report before Peter's run; Luke seems to sum up the reports of several women (in this reconstruction Mary Magdalene's came first, John 20:2).
14Not a solar eclipse — Passover fell at full moon, when one cannot happen. The tools computed the full moon for Friday 3 April AD 33 at about 5 pm Jerusalem time. A partial lunar eclipse (NASA catalogue no. 04904) was ending as the moon rose over Jerusalem that evening; whether it could be seen is disputed (Humphreys and Waddington 1992; Schaefer 1990).
15John gives no day for this; it is placed with his arrival at Bethany, before the entry On the next day
(John 12:12).
16Mark splits the fig tree over two days; Matthew 21:18–20 tells it as one.
17The Gospels do not say plainly whether Judas left before or after the bread and cup (Luke 22:19–21; John 13:30).
18Luke 22:31–34 and John 13:36–38 place this warning in the upper room; Matthew 26:30–35 and Mark 14:26–31 after they went out to the Mount of Olives. It may have been given twice.
19Mark says the cock crowed twice (14:30, 72); the others mention once.
20Only John tells of a hearing before Annas, Caiaphas' father-in-law (John 18:13); verses 19–24 can be read of either man.
21Matthew 27:5 says Judas hanged himself; Acts 1:18 that he fell headlong. Both tie his silver to a field. Matthew 27:9 credits the prophecy to Jeremy the prophet
; the words are mostly Zechariah 11:12–13, joined with Jeremiah's potter and field (Jeremiah 18–19; 32:6–9).
22Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee (Luke 3:1) — not Herod the Great of Matthew 2. The Gospels call him Herod (Herod being tetrarch of Galilee
, Luke 3:1); the name Antipas comes from Josephus.
23John 19:1–3 tells of the scourging and the crown of thorns before Pilate's final verdict (19:16); Matthew and Mark tell the scourging with the verdict (when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified
, Matthew 27:26; compare Mark 15:15) and the crown of thorns after it (Matthew 27:27–31; Mark 15:16–20).
24Golgotha, a place of a skull
— no Gospel calls it a hill; Calvary (Luke 23:33) is the Latin name.
25No Gospel has all seven sayings from the cross; their order is traditional.
26Matthew 27:52–53 — graves opened at his death, but the saints came out of the graves after his resurrection
.
Key
Day (or hour) given in the Gospels — a dashed edge means the day is reconstructed (harmonies differ). ≈ = about (time or date is approximate). Matt · Mark · Luke · John.
Scripture quotations: King James Version (KJV)