Matthew 27:52

And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
graves	μνημεῖα mnēmeia	G3419	a remembrance · noun — nominative plural neuter
opened	ἀνεῴχθησαν, aneōchthēsan	G455	to open up (literally or figuratively · verb — aorist passive indicative, 3rd person plural
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
many	πολλὰ polla	G4183	(singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) many · adjective — nominative plural neuter
bodies	σώματα sōmata	G4983	the body (as a sound whole) · noun — nominative plural neuter
saints	ἁγίων hagiōn	G40	sacred (physically · adjective — genitive plural masculine
slept	κεκοιμημένων kekoimēmenōn	G2837	to put to sleep · verb — perfect middle participle, genitive plural masculine
arose	ἠγέρθησαν, ēgerthēsan	G1453	to waken (transitively or intransitively) · verb — aorist passive indicative, 3rd person plural

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of he…
1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
John 5:25-29 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear sha…
1 Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take aw…
1 Thessalonians 5:10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
Hosea 13:14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destru…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 27:52

And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose--These sleeping saints (see on Th1 4:14) were Old Testament believers, who--according to the usual punctuation in our version--were quickened into resurrection life at the moment of their Lord's death, but lay in their graves till His resurrection, when they came forth. But it is far more natural, as we think, and consonant with other Scriptures, to understand that only the graves were opened, probably by the earthquake, at our Lord's death, and this only in preparation for the subsequent exit of those who slept in them, when the Spirit of life should enter into them from their risen Lord, and along with Him they sho…

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John Gill on Matthew 27:52

And the graves were opened,.... Which were near the city of Jerusalem: this was a proof of Christ's power over death and the grave, by dying; when he through death, destroyed him that had the power of it, and abolished death itself; and became the plague of death and the destruction of the grave, taking into his hands the keys of hell and death: and many bodies of saints which slept, arose: not that they arose at the time of Christ's death: the graves were opened then, when the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent; but the bodies of the saints did not arise, till after Christ was risen, as appears from the following verse; but because the other event now happened, they are both recorded he…

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John Calvin on Matthew 27:45-56

Matthew 27:45-56 Matthew 27:45-56 Mark 15:33-41 Luke 23:44-49 45. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over the whole land [280] till the ninth hour. 46. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 47. And some of those who were standing by, when they heard it, said, He calleth Elijah. 48. And immediately one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and fastened it to a reed, and gave him to drink. 49. But others said, Let him alone, let us see if Elijah will come to save him. 50. And Jesus having again cried with a loud voice, gave up his spirit. 51. And, lo, the…

The Church Fathers

The graves were opened, for the bands of death were loosed. And many bodies of the saints which slept arose, for illumining the darkness of death, and shedding light upon the gloom of Hades, He robbed the spirits of death.
— Hilary of Poitiers ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

The graves are the bodies of sinful souls, that is, souls dead to God; but when by God's grace these souls have been raised, their bodies which before were graves, become bodies of Saints, and appear to go out of themselves, and follow Him who rose again, and walk with Him in newness of life; and such as are worthy to have their conversation in heaven enter into the Holy City at divers times, and appear unto many who see their good works.
— Origen of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

For if for Lazarus to rise on the fourth day was a great thing, how much more for all those who had long ago fallen asleep, at once to appear alive, which was a sign of the future resurrection. For, "many bodies of the saints which slept, arose," it is said, "and went into the holy city, and appeared to many." For in order that what was done might not be accounted to be an imagination, they appear, even to many, in the city.
— John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 88

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Earthquake — Mentioned among the extraordinary phenomena of Palestine (Ps. 18:7; comp. Hab. 3:6; Nah. 1:5; Isa. 5:25). The first earthquake in Palestine of which we have any record happened in the reign of Ahab…
Saint — One separated from the world and consecrated to God; one holy by profession and by covenant; a believer in Christ (Ps. 16:3; Rom. 1:7; 8:27; Phil. 1:1; Heb. 6:10). The “saints” spoken of in Jude 1:14…
Death Of Christ, The · Accompanied by supernatural signs — Accompanied by supernatural signs
Resurrection · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 27:52

John Gill on Matthew 27:52

John Calvin on Matthew 27:45-56

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 27:52

John Gill on Matthew 27:52

John Calvin on Matthew 27:45-56

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 27:52-53