27:62–66 On the following day (it was a Sabbath, although the Greek avoids mentioning the holy day and calls it the one meta tēn paraskeuēn, after Preparation Day), the chief priests and the Pharisees went as a group to Pilate to ask that a guard be set up at the tomb. They remembered that while he was still alive Jesus had claimed that after three days he would come back to life. Therefore it was necessary to set a guard in order to prevent the disciples from stealing the body and claiming that he had been raised from the dead. This last deception (a false rumor that he had risen) would be even worse than the first (his false claim that he was the Messiah and the Son of God).

Some have…