17 The great day of the Jewish pasch was near, and Jews could not by law permit a criminal to hang upon the cross upon the Sabbath day.
18 And so they prayed that Pilate would remove the bodies of the men that had been crucified.
19 And Pilate sent his guards to Calvary to note if all the men were dead.
20 And when the guards were gone, two aged Jews came to the palace door to see the governor, and they were members of the highest council of the Jews;
21 Yet they believed that Jesus was a prophet sent from God.
22 The one was Rabbi Joseph, the Arimathean counsellor, and he was just and loved the law of God.
23 And Nicodemus was the other one who came.
24 These men fell down at Pilate’s feet and prayed that they might take the body of the Nazarene and lay it in a tomb.
25 And Pilate gave consent.
26 Now, Joseph had prepared a costly mixture to embalm the body of the Lord, about a hundred pounds of aloes and of myrrh, and this they took and hastened out to Calvary.