1 on the first day of the week they returned to the tomb very early in the morning, carrying the fragrant spices and oils they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb. 3 On entering it, moreover, they looked in vain for the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 The women were at a loss about this, when suddenly there standing beside them were two men, dressed in clothing that was shining like lightning. 5 As the women were bowing their faces to the ground, terrified as they were, the men said to them, “Why are ᵖyou looking for the living among the dead? 6 He isn’t here, but has been raised to life! Remember what he told ᵖyou while he was still in Galilee: 7 ‘As for the Son of Man, it is God’s will for him to be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, and to be crucified, and then on the third day to rise to life.’ 8 At that the women remembered Jesus’ words. 9 Returning from the tomb, they reported these things, all of them, to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them. They were telling the apostles these things. 11 Yet the story sounded to the apostles like pure nonsense, and they refused to believe the women. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb, and when he bent down to have a look inside, he saw the linen wrappings and nothing else. Then he went back to where he was staying, wondering what had happened.

13 There was also something else very important that happened: Two of Jesus’ followers, on that same day, were making their way to a village located about seven miles from Jerusalem, called Emmaus. 14 They were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 As they were talking and debating, Jesus himself came up and began to walk along with them! 16 Their eyes, however, were kept from recognizing him.

17 “What in the world are these matters that ᵖyou two are discussing so intently as you walk along?” Jesus asked them. At that the two followers came to a halt, their faces covered with sadness.

18 In reply the one named Cleopas asked him, “Are ˢyou the one and only person living near Jerusalem who doesn’t know about the things that have happened there these last few days?”

19 “What things?” he asked them.

“The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied, “a man who showed himself to be a mighty prophet by the things he did and said, approved by God and all the people,20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and had him crucified. 21 We, however, were hoping that he was the one destined to bring about Israel’s release from slavery and oppression. And besides all this, Jesus is now spending his third day dead since these things took place. 22 Or so we thought! Some of the women from our group told us something so shocking that we don’t know what to think. After going early this morning to the tomb 23 and looking in vain for his body, they came back claiming to have seen a vision of angels, who told them that Jesus was alive! 24 Then some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said. Jesus, however, they did not see.”

25 Jesus, then, said to them, “How foolish and stubborn ᵖyou are, so slow to put your faith in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 It was God’s will for the Messiah to suffer these things before entering his glory, was it not?” 27 And beginning with the books of Moses, and then proceeding to the writings of all the prophets, he explained to them from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

28 As they approached the village to which they were traveling, Jesus made it seem as if he were going to travel on further. 29 “No, stay with us,” they urged him. “For it’s getting very close to evening, and the day is almost done.” So he went into the house to stay with them.

30 After he had reclined at the meal table with them, he took the bread and praised God. And when he had broken it, he kept giving it to them. 31 Of these two followers, then, the eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And as for Jesus, he just disappeared! 32 The two said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking with us on the road, as he was clarifying and explaining the Scriptures to us?” 33 Getting up from the table without a moment’s delay, they returned to Jerusalem and found, assembled together, the Eleven and the others of the group. 34 “It’s true!” they exclaimed. “The Lord has been raised to life and did appear to Simon!” 35 Then they went into the whole story about what had happened on the road and how they recognized Jesus as he broke the bread.

36 Now these things they were still reporting, when Jesus himself suddenly appeared in their midst. “Shalom to all of ᵖyou,” he said. 37 Startled and absolutely terrified, those gathered thought it was a spirit that they were looking at. 38 “Why are ᵖyou so alarmed?” Jesus asked them. “And why are ᵖyour hearts and minds filled with such doubts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; it’s me! Touch me and find out for yourselves. A spirit, after all, doesn’t have flesh and bones, as ᵖyou can see I myself have.” 40 And this having said, he showed them his hands and his feet.

41 Now because they still found it all too good to believe, overcome as they were with joy and astonishment, Jesus asked them, “Do ᵖyou have any food here?” 42 At that, they handed him a piece of cooked fish, 43 which he took and ate right there in their very presence.

44 He said to them “These are the very things to which I was referring in our talks when I was with ᵖyou before, that it was God’s will for everything written in the Torah of Moses and in the Prophets and Psalms concerning me to be accomplished.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 46 “The Scriptures teach that the Messiah was to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,” he said to them, 47 “and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the Gentiles. Beginning in Jerusalem, 48 ᵖyou will bear solemn witness to these things. 49 Listen carefully: I am going to send what my Father promised upon ᵖyou. As for ᵖyou, remain in the city until ᵖyou have been clothed with power from on high.”

50 Jesus led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he invoked a blessing over them. 51 While he was doing this, he began to depart from them and was taken up higher and higher into the sky.+ 52 And they, after worshiping him, returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy, 53 and spent all their time in the temple courts, praising God.