Three Days and Three Nights: Reassessing Jesus's Entombment

Authors

David Butler Cumming

Keywords

Bible, New Testament, Gospels, Jesus Christ, Entombment, Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi

Abstract

The Bible does not explicitly state on which day of the week the Savior was crucified, and the passages describing the length of time he spent in the tomb can be interpreted in multiple ways. Depending on how days were measured and on what Sabbath the day of preparation preceded—whether the weekly Sabbath or the Passover Sabbath—the crucifixion could plausibly have occurred on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. The Bible and history have not been able to determine on which day of the week the crucifixion occurred, but the Book of Mormon gives additional information to establish the day. Based on a comparison of the passages in the two texts and an examination of time differences between the two hemispheres, Thursday appears to be the most plausible solution.

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation

Cumming, David Butler (2007) "Three Days and Three Nights: Reassessing Jesus's Entombment," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 16: No. 1, Article 7.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol16/iss1/7