24:1   But on the first day of the week at early dawn they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.

24:2   They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

24:3   but when they went in, they didn't find the body of the Lord Jesus.

24:4   While they were puzzling over this, two men in dazzling robes suddenly stood beside them.

24:5   Because the women were terrified and were bowing their faces to the ground, the men asked them, "Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is living?

24:6   He is not here but has been raised. Remember what he told you while he was still in Galilee,

24:7   'the Son of Man must be handed over to sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day.'"

24:8   Then they remembered his words.

24:9   They returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and all the others.

24:10   The women who told the apostles about it were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and some others.

24:11   But these words seemed nonsense to them, and they wouldn't believe them.

24:12   Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. He stooped down and saw only the linen cloths. Then he went home wondering about what had happened.

24:13   On the same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.

24:14   They were talking with each other about all these things that had taken place.

24:15   While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself approached and began to walk with them,

24:16   but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

24:17   He asked them, "What are you discussing with each other as you're walking along?" They stood still and looked gloomy.

24:18   The one whose name was Cleopas answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know what happened there these days?"

24:19   He asked them, "What things?" They answered him, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in the things that he did and said before God and all the people,

24:20   and how our high priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and had him crucified.

24:21   But we kept hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel. What is more, this is now the third day since these things occurred.

24:22   Even some of our women have startled us! They were at the tomb early this morning

24:23   and didn't find his body there, so they came back and told us that they had actually seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.

24:24   Then some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they didn't see him."

24:25   Then Jesus said to them, "O how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe everything the prophets said!

24:26   The Christ had to suffer these things and then enter his glory, didn't he?"

24:27   Then, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them all the passages of Scripture about himself.

24:28   As they came near the village where they were going, he acted as though he were going on farther.

24:29   But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is almost evening and the day is almost gone." So he went in to stay with them.

24:30   While he was at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed it, broke it in pieces, and gave it to them.

24:31   Then their eyes were opened, and they knew who he was. And he vanished from them.

24:32   Then they said to each other, "Our hearts kept burning within us as he was talking to us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us, didn't they?"

24:33   That same hour they got up and went back to Jerusalem and found the eleven and their companions all together.

24:34   They kept saying, "The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon!"

24:35   Then they themselves began to tell what had happened on the road and how he was recognized by them when he broke the bread in pieces.

24:36   While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."

24:37   They were startled and terrified, thinking they were seeing a ghost.

24:38   He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why are doubts arising in your hearts?

24:39   Look at my hands and my feet, for it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a ghost doesn't have flesh and bones as you see that I have."

24:40   After he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

24:41   While they still could not believe it for joy and were full of amazement, he said to them, "Do you have anything here to eat?"

24:42   They gave him a piece of broiled fish,

24:43   and he took it and ate it in their presence.

24:44   Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms had to be fulfilled."

24:45   Then he opened their minds so that they might come to understand the Scriptures.

24:46   He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ was to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,

24:47   and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

24:48   You are witnesses of these things.

24:49   I am sending on you what my Father promised. But stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

24:50   Then he led them out as far as Bethany, lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

24:51   While he was blessing them, he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.

24:52   They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

24:53   And they were continually in the temple blessing God.