The Empty Tomb
Legend:
High overlap
Moderate overlap
Low overlap
Matthew 28:1–8
28:1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 79%
28:2 Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it. 74%
28:3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 71%
28:4 For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men. 75%
28:5 The angel answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified. 76%
28:6 He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying. 93%
28:7 Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.” 96%
28:8 They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word. 88%
Mark 16:1–8
16:1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him. 76%
16:2 Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 71%
16:3 They were saying among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” 93%
16:4 for it was very big. Looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back. 82%
16:5 Entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were amazed. 69%
16:6 He said to them, “Don’t be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here. Behold, the place where they laid him! 82%
16:7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you.’ ” 95%
16:8 They went out, and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come on them. They said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid. 60%
Luke 24:1–12
24:1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they and some others came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. 58%
24:2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 88%
24:3 They entered in, and didn’t find the Lord Jesus’ body. 80%
24:4 While they were greatly perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling clothing. 65%
24:5 Becoming terrified, they bowed their faces down to the earth. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 76%
24:6 He isn’t here, but is risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee, 79%
24:7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again?” 47%
24:8 They remembered his words, 60%
24:9 returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 79%
24:10 Now they were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. The other women with them told these things to the apostles. 77%
24:11 These words seemed to them to be nonsense, and they didn’t believe them. 50%
24:12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he departed to his home, wondering what had happened. 73%
Verbatim Agreement
Percentage of words that appear identically (same form and position) across gospel pairs.
Strong's Number Overlap
How much of each gospel's vocabulary (by Strong's number) is shared with another.
Mt
Mk
Lk
Mt
—
34%
26%
Mk
34%
—
26%
Lk
26%
26%
—
Unique Vocabulary
Strong's numbers that appear only in one gospel for this pericope.
Matthew (23)
Mark (41)
Explore the texts yourself
Every word in the synoptic gospels links back to its Greek lexicon entry. See what the gospel writers actually wrote.
Morphological data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.