A Greek-Text Case for 14 Nisan and a Saturday-Evening Resurrection

For centuries, most Christians have been taught that Jesus died on a Friday (the day of Venus for the Romans) and rose on Sunday morning (the day of the Sun). Churches around the world call it “Good Friday.” But we often forget that the Romans were not benevolent rulers but brutal overlords; savage animals who crucified, tortured, and murdered to keep their authority. They did what later inquisitions also did: suppress and kill those who clung to the Scriptures given by men moved by the Holy Spirit; the very Spirit Rome claimed inspired its own teachings.  It is not far-fetched to see how aligning the crucifixion with Friday and Sunday would have suited Rome’s sun cult symbolism: Venus’ day for death, the Sun’s day for resurrection. The very same pattern of linking planetary days to cosmic order was preserved long before in Babylon. There, the seven classical planets were each tied to a day, with Saturn in particular representing authority, time, and cosmic order. Babylonian astrologers used Saturn’s rulership to symbolize control over cycles and the keeping of order in the heavens. This system passed into Hellenistic and later Roman practice, where the planetary week was inherited and applied politically and religiously. Thus Rome’s use of Friday (Venus’ day) and Sunday (the Sun’s day) was not new, but an extension of an older Babylonian scheme that aligned rulership and ritual with the movements of the heavens to reinforce imperial authority. Yet when you read the Scriptures carefully; especially the Greek text; a very different picture emerges. What if the crucifixion happened on Wednesday (14 Nisan), with Jesus in the grave a literal three days and three nights, and the resurrection occurring just before sunset on the weekly Sabbath? Let’s walk through the evidence.

Setting the Stage

To understand the Passion Week properly, we must first step into the Jewish way of keeping time. Unlike our modern system that counts days from midnight to midnight, Jewish days were counted from sunset to sunset. This means that when the Gospels mention “the next day,” they are referring to an evening-to-evening cycle, not a morning-to-morning one. That detail is not small; it is crucial for making sense of the timeline of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

This is why certain details in the Gospels can sound confusing to modern ears. For example, the “Preparation Day” (the day before a Sabbath) ended at sundown, and the Sabbath began immediately afterward. So what sounds like two different days in our reckoning could in fact be a single continuous cycle in Jewish time.

According to the Gospel accounts:

• Jesus died and was buried on “Preparation Day.”

• The following day was a Sabbath.

• John is careful to note that this particular Sabbath was not the ordinary weekly Sabbath but a High Sabbath, a festival Sabbath connected with Passover.

When we follow these clues without forcing them into later church traditions, the pieces begin to align with remarkable clarity. We discover a pattern that points to a Wednesday crucifixion, not Friday.

Fast Timeline (Jewish sundown-to-sundown reckoning)

• Wed (14 Nisan) – Crucifixion & burial before sunset (Preparation for the festival).

• Thu (15 Nisan) – High Sabbath (first day of Unleavened Bread).

• Fri (16 Nisan) – Ordinary workday: women buy & prepare spices.

• Sat (17 Nisan) – Weekly Sabbath: women rest again.

• Sat just before sunset: Resurrection; by early Sunday, whilst still dark, the tomb is already empty. (Jewish sundown-to-sundown reckoning)

  
  

No executions or legal proceedings on Sabbath/Feast

Jewish law forbade holding trials and carrying out executions on Sabbaths or feast days. The Mishnah (Sanhedrin 4:1) stresses this. Romans might not have cared normally, but in Jerusalem at Passover, Pilate was cautious not to provoke riots. That’s why John says the bodies had to be removed before the Sabbath began. [1]

Takeaway: Jesus could not have been crucified on a Sabbath.

Two distinct Sabbaths that week

Mark tells us the women bought spices after a Sabbath. Luke says they prepared the spices and then rested on another Sabbath. [2]

That only makes sense if there were two Sabbaths: a High Sabbath on Thursday and the regular weekly Sabbath on Saturday. This gives the women time on Friday to buy and prepare spices. A Friday crucifixion leaves no time for this sequence.

Matthew 28:1 — “After the Sabbaths”

In Greek, Matthew writes: Ὀψὲ δὲ σαββάτων — literally “after the Sabbaths” (plural). [3]This matches perfectly with a week that contained two Sabbaths, not just one. Those Sabbaths were the High Sabbath on Thursday (the first day of Unleavened Bread) and the weekly Sabbath on Saturday. That leaves Friday as the only normal workday between them; the day when the women bought and prepared spices (Mark 16:1; Luke 23:56).

If Jesus had been crucified on Friday, however, there would have been no opportunity for the women to buy and prepare spices “after one Sabbath” and still rest on another, because Friday itself would have been the day of His death and burial. Moreover, Jewish law forbade holding trials and executions on Sabbaths or feast days, and with Sabbaths falling back-to-back, a Friday crucifixion would have been legally and practically impossible.

John 19:31 — A High Sabbath

John clarifies that the Sabbath following Jesus’ death was a High Day; the first day of Unleavened Bread, not the weekly Saturday. This festival Sabbath began Thursday evening. Jesus, then, was crucified on Wednesday, Nisan 14, the same day the Passover lambs were slain.

The Sign of Jonah — Three days and three nights

Jesus Himself tied His death and resurrection directly to Jonah’s experience:

“Just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights” (Mt 12:40). [4]

The Greek text is unambiguous: τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας — three days and three nights. In Jonah 1:17 (LXX), the exact same phrase is used:

καὶ ἦν Ἰωνᾶς ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας“And Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights.”

Jonah was literally in the fish for that full time span, and Jesus promised His entombment would mirror it.

Wednesday model:

• Wed sunset → Thu sunset = 1 day, 1 night

• Thu sunset → Fri sunset = 2 days, 2 nights

• Fri sunset → Sat sunset = 3 days, 3 nights

That’s a literal 72 hours. A Friday burial to Sunday dawn only gives 2 nights and part of 3 days. The sign of Jonah demands more.

Supporting evidence for Jonah’s literal timeline

Hebrew text: Jonah 1:17 (MT) uses the same construction: שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים וּשְׁלֹשָׁה לֵילוֹת — “three days and three nights.” In Hebrew, when both day (yom) and night (laylah) are paired, it signals a complete duration, not a fraction.

Biblical parallels:

Exodus 24:18 — Moses on Sinai for forty days and forty nights.

1 Samuel 30:12 — the Egyptian servant had eaten nothing for three days and three nights. In both cases, the phrase means full, literal spans of time.

Jewish tradition: Later rabbinic commentary consistently treated Jonah’s ordeal as literal time in the fish, not symbolic.

Jesus’ teaching: Jesus calls Jonah’s time the only sign given to His generation. By rooting His resurrection prophecy in Jonah’s literal timeline, He ensures it cannot be taken as a loose idiom.

Together, these lines of evidence show why Jonah’s “three days and three nights” was understood literally; and why Jesus’ reference to it in Matthew 12:40 points us to a strict 72-hour entombment, fulfilled by the Wednesday-to-Saturday model.

Why “three days and three nights” means 72 hours

Some readers wonder: did Jesus mean parts of three days, or three full day-night cycles? Scripture itself gives the answer:

Consistent biblical usage: Every time “days and nights” are paired (Ex. 24:18; 1 Sam. 30:12), it describes complete spans, never fragments.

Jesus’ precision: He didn’t only say “on the third day,” but deliberately added Jonah’s wording; “three days and three nights.” This locks the prophecy into literal time.

Other sayings: Mark 8:31 records Him predicting He would rise “after three days.” Matthew 27:63 notes His enemies remembered Him saying, “After three days I will rise again.” “After three days” points beyond two partial days; it requires the full period to pass.

Taken together, these verses confirm that Jesus’ entombment was to last a full three days and three nights; a 72-hour period ; before the resurrection. Only the Wednesday-to-Saturday model fits this exactly.

 “The third day since”

Luke gives us a precise sequence here. First, in Luke 24:1, he says that on “the first day of the week” (Sunday), the women came to the tomb; and they found it already empty. Then in Luke 24:13, he adds, “That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus.” This places the Emmaus road conversation firmly on Sunday.

During that walk, the disciples said: σὺν πᾶσι τούτοις τρίτην ταύτην ἡμέραν ἄγει ἀφ’ οὗ ταῦτα ἐγένετο — “Today is the third day since these things happened” (Lk 24:21). [5]

If Jesus died Friday and was buried before sunset:

Sat = 1st day since

Sun = 2nd day since

So on Sunday morning, they would only have been in the second day since. Their words do not fit the Friday model.

Jesus died Wednesday afternoon and was buried just before sunset (end of the Preparation Day).

The count of days begins after that sunset.

Thursday sunset → Friday sunset = Day 1 SINCE

Friday sunset → Saturday sunset = Day 2 SINCE

Saturday sunset → Sunday sunset = Day 3 SINCE

Thus, when the disciples walked on the road to Emmaus Sunday morning, it truly was the third day since the crucifixion. This matches their words exactly. And importantly, Luke tells us that at the time of this statement, the disciples had not yet recognized or seen Jesus; they were still speaking in grief and confusion. This strengthens the point: their reckoning of “the third day since” was not influenced by hindsight or resurrection appearances, but by their straightforward count of days from the burial on Wednesday evening.

“After three days” vs. “On the third day”

Jesus used both phrases in prophecy. Mark records Him saying He would rise “after three days.” Matthew and Luke say “on the third day.” [6]

How do you reconcile these? The Wednesday model fits both: He rose after a full three-day/three-night span (Mark) and by Sunday it was also the third day since (Matthew/Luke).

The tomb already empty

By the time Mary arrived “while it was still dark” on Sunday, the tomb was already empty. Later that same day, Jesus appeared to the disciples. [7] This shows the resurrection had already taken place as the Sabbath was ending—on Saturday evening, marking a full 72 hours (just as Jonah) from the burial just before sunset on Wednesday, Nisan 14, by Jewish reckoning; not at daybreak on Sunday morning.

Objections Answered

“Paraskeuē always means Friday.”

The Greek word Παρασκευή simply means “Preparation.” In Jewish usage, it referred to the day of preparation before any Sabbath; whether the regular weekly Sabbath or a High Sabbath tied to a feast. John 19:14 and 19:31 make it clear that this particular Preparation was for a High Sabbath (the first day of Unleavened Bread), not the ordinary Friday before Saturday. To automatically equate Paraskeuē with Friday is to impose later tradition back onto the text.

“Plural Sabbaths just means ‘week.’”

It is true that in some contexts the plural σαββάτων can mean “week.” However, in Matthew 28:1 the phrase ὀψὲ δὲ σαββάτων literally means “after the Sabbaths.” Given the surrounding details (Mark 16:1 and Luke 23:56) which describe the women buying spices after one Sabbath and resting on another, the plural is best understood literally. There were two Sabbaths that week: the High Sabbath on Thursday and the regular weekly Sabbath on Saturday. This reading allows all the Gospel accounts to harmonize without forcing the text.

“Inclusive reckoning works fine for Friday.”

Inclusive reckoning; counting part of a day as a whole day; was a known Jewish idiom. But it cannot resolve the problem here. First, Jesus explicitly said He would be in the grave for “three days and three nights” (Mt 12:40), echoing Jonah 1:17 in both Hebrew and Greek. That phrase has no precedent for meaning anything less than three full day-night cycles. Second, Luke 24:21 records the disciples on Sunday saying “today is the third day since these things happened.” If Friday were the crucifixion, Sunday would only be the second day since. Inclusive reckoning cannot stretch this without distorting ordinary language. Only the Wednesday-to-Saturday timeline produces the literal three days and three nights and aligns with the disciples’ own words.

Conclusion

When you set aside tradition and let the Scriptures speak for themselves—in their original Greek—the case is strong:

• Jesus was crucified on Wednesday (14 Nisan).

• The next day, Thursday, was a High Sabbath.

• Friday the women bought and prepared spices.

• Saturday they rested again on the weekly Sabbath.

• Just before sunset Saturday, (72 hours after his burial) Jesus rose. By Sunday morning the tomb was already empty.

This timeline gives us a literal fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy: three days and three nights in the grave; the sign of Jonah. It also makes sense of the disciples’ words: “Today is the third day since these things happened.”

Endnotes

[1] Luke 23:54, John 19:31.[2] Mark 16:1, Luke 23:56.[3] Matthew 28:1 (plural σαββάτων).[4] Matthew 12:40; Jonah 1:17 LXX.[5] Luke 24:21.[6] Mark 8:31; Matthew 16:21; Luke 9:22.[7] John 20:1, 20:19.