Luke 24 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~AD 30
Location
Jerusalem and the road to Emmaus (near Jerusalem)
Audience
Jesus' disciples and early followers
Situation
After Jesus' crucifixion and burial, women discover his empty tomb on the first day of the week; Jesus then appears unrecognized to two disciples traveling to Emmaus, and later to the apostles gathered in Jerusalem.
Key Background
The events occur during Passover in Roman-occupied Judea under Pontius Pilate. Jewish expectations centered on a Messiah who would deliver Israel politically, but Jesus' death shattered the disciples' hopes until the resurrection appearances transformed their despair into bold proclamation. The empty tomb and post-resurrection sightings provided eyewitness testimony that became foundational for early Christian faith, contrasting with Greco-Roman skepticism toward bodily resurrection.
On the of the very early in the morning, they came to the bringing the they had prepared.
They found the rolled away from the tomb,
but when they went inside, they didn't find the body of the Jesus.
While they were trying to figure out what had happened, suddenly two men stood beside them in that
The women were and their to the The two men said to them, "Why are you looking for someone who's alive among the dead?
He's not here — he's been Remember what he told you while he was still in
'The of has to be handed over to be on a and on the third day come back to life.'"
Then they remembered his words.
When they came back from the tomb, they reported all of this to the and everyone else.
It was Joanna, the mother of James, and the other women with them who told the these things.
But the apostles thought it was and didn't believe them.
But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. He bent down, looked in, and saw only the Then he went home, by what had happened.
That same day, two of them were walking to a village called about from Jerusalem.
They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.
While they were deep in conversation, and Jesus himself came up and started walking with them.
But them from
He asked them, "What are you two going back and forth about as you walk?" They stopped, their with
One of them, named answered, "Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn't know what's been going on there these last few days?"
"What things?" he asked. They said, "Everything about Jesus of He was a who did and said powerful things in front of God and all the people.
But our and leaders handed over to be sentenced to death, and they on a
We had hoped he was the one who was going to And on top of all this, it's now the since it happened.
Then some of the women in our group shocked us. They went to the tomb early this morning
and when they didn't find his body, they came back saying they'd actually seen a vision of who said he was alive.
Some of our people went to the tomb and found it exactly like the women had said — but they didn't see him.
Then he said to them, "How you are to How hard it is for you to believe everything the said!
Didn't The have to go through all this suffering before entering his
Then, starting with and working through all the Prophets, he explained to them everything in the that was about himself.
As they got close to the village where they were headed, he acted like he was going to keep walking.
But they pressed him, saying, "Stay with us — it's almost evening, and the day is nearly over." So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he the it, and handed it to them.
Suddenly their were and they recognized him — and then he right in front of them.
They said to each other, "Weren't our on while he was talking to us on the road, opening up the Scriptures for us?"
They got up right then and hurried back to They found the eleven and the others gathered together,
who said, "It's true! The Lord has been He appeared to
Then the two told them what had happened on the road and how they recognized him when he broke the bread.
While they were still talking about all this, Jesus himself stood among them and said, to you."
They were startled and terrified, thinking they were seeing a
He said to them, "Why are you so shaken up? Why are all these running through your minds?
Look at my and my — it's really me. Touch me and see. A ghost doesn't have and like you can see I have."
After he said this, he showed them his hands and feet.
They still couldn't believe it — it was too and they were overwhelmed with joy. So he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?"
They gave him a piece of
and he took it and ate it right in front of them.
He told them, "This is what I was telling you while I was still with you: everything written about me in the of the and the has to come true."
Then he their so they could understand the Scriptures.
He said to them, "Here's what's written: The would suffer and to from the dead on the third day,
and that a of for the of would be announced in his name to every starting from Jerusalem.
You are of all these things.
"And look — I'm sending you what my But stay in the city until you've been with from
Then he led them out as far as and he lifted up his hands and them.