John 19:41
in John 19Now there was a garden in the place where Jesus was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new tomb wherein was never man yet laid.
KJV
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.
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This verse in John 19
Commentary
20 notes on this verseChrist himself is a virgin. His mother is also a virgin. In fact, although she is his mother, she is still a virgin. For Jesus has entered in through the closed doors, and in his sepulcher—a new one hewn out of the hardest rock—no one is laid either before him or after him.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
(Tr. cxx) As no one before or after Him was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, so in this grave was there none buried before or after Him.
"Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid." As in the womb of the Virgin Mary no one was conceived before Him, and no one after Him, so in this sepulchre there was no one buried before Him, and no one after Him.
Observe whether the harmony of the three Evangelists here is not fitted to make an impression: for they have thought it right to describe the tomb as one that was "quarried or hewn out of the rock." Whoever examines the words of the narrative will see something worthy of consideration, both in them and in the newness of the tomb—a point mentioned by Matthew and John—and in the statement of Luke and John, that no one had ever been interred there before. For it became him, who was unlike other dead people (but who even in death manifested signs of life in the water and the blood) and who was, so to speak, a new dead man, to be laid in a new and clean tomb, in order that, as his birth was purer than any other (because he was born not in the way of ordinary generation but of a virgin), his burial also might have the purity symbolically indicated in his body being deposited in a sepulcher that was new, not built of stones gathered from various quarters and having no natural unity, but quarried and hewn out of one rock, united together in all its parts.
And because they were straitened by the time, (since the Death took place at the ninth hour, and it is probable, that what with going to Pilate and what with taking down the body, evening would come upon them when it was not lawful to work,) they laid Him in the tomb that was near. And it is providentially ordered, that He should be placed in a new tomb, wherein no one had been placed before, that His Resurrection might not be deemed to be that of some other who lay there with Him; and that the disciples might be able easily to come and be spectators of what came to pass, because the place was near; and that not they alone should be witnesses of His burial, but His enemies also, for the placing seals on the tomb, and the sitting by of the soldiers to watch it, were the actions of men testifying to the burial. For Christ earnestly desired that this should be confessed, no less than the Resurrection. Wherefore also the disciples are very earnest about this, the showing that He died. For the Resurrection all succeeding time would confirm, but the Death, if at that time it had been partially concealed, or not made very manifest, was likely to harm the account of the Resurrection. Nor was it for these reasons only that He was laid near, but also that the story about the stealing might be proved false.
A commentator
Cyril of AlexandriaCommentary on the Gospel of John, Book 12 · Written before 444.
proposed
And if any one choose to give an additional meaning to the saying that the sepulchre was a new one, and that no man had been lain therein, be it so. He says, then, we may suppose, that the sepulchre was new, and that no one had been ever laid therein, that no one might be thought to have arisen from the sleep of death save Jesus only.
14 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers2 voices
And since we have touched on things connected with paradise, I am truly astonished at the truth of the types. In Paradise was the fall, and in a garden was our salvation. From the tree came sin, and until the tree, sin lasted. In the evening, when the Lord walked in the garden, they hid themselves. And in the evening the robber is brought by the Lord into paradise.
A garden was the place of his burial, and a vine was what was planted there, as he said, "I am the vine." He was planted therefore in the earth in order that the curse that came because of Adam might be rooted out. The earth was condemned to thorns and thistles; the true Vine sprang up out of the earth, that the saying might be fulfilled, "Truth sprang up out of the earth, and righteousness looked down from heaven." And what will he that is buried in the garden say? "I have gathered my myrrh with my spices"; and again, "myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices." Now these are the symbols of burial.
The Medieval Church4 voices
Now there was in the place. Here the third point is set forth, namely the placement in the tomb. And the reason why he was placed in that location is indicated as twofold, namely the suitability of the place and the shortness of time: the …
The "tomb" was "a new one, in which no one had yet been laid." This was arranged so that the resurrection could not be reinterpreted, as though someone else had risen and not Jesus. And in another sense: the new tomb figuratively showed that through …
2468 The place where Christ was buried is then mentioned, Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden. Christ was arrested in a garden, underwent his agony in a garden, and was buried in a garden. This indicates to us that …
In that it was a new sepulchre, we are given to understand, that we are all renewed by Christ's death, and death and corruption destroyed. Mark too the exceeding poverty that He took up for our sakes. He had no house in His lifetime, and now He is laid in another's sepulchre at His death, and His nakedness covered by Joseph. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. Even now in a certain sense Christ is put to death by the avaritious, in the person of the poor man suffering famine. Be therefore a Joseph, and cover Christ's nakedness, and, not once, but continually by contemplation, embalm Him in thy spiritual tomb, cover Him, and mix myrrh and bitter aloes; considering that bitterest sentence of all, Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. (Matt. 25:41)
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Now in the place where he was crucified,.... Which takes in all that spot of ground that lay on that side of the city where he was crucified; or near to the place of his crucifixion, for it was not a garden in which he was crucified: there was a garden; all gardens, except rose gardens, were without the city, as has been observed; see Gill on Joh 18:
22, 25 ), as Paul did, who was in stripes above measure, 2 Cor. xi. Christ's stripes take out the sting of theirs, and alter the property of them. We are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world, 1 Cor. xi.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
The Nineteenth Century5 voices
There was a garden - It was an ancient custom for particular families to have burying places in their gardens. See 2Ki 21:18, 2Ki 21:26. New sepulchre - See on Mat 27:60 (note).
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1869)
proposed
There is a peculiar interest attached to these five verses of Scripture. They introduce us to a stranger, of whom we never heard before. They bring in an old friend, whose name is known wherever the Bible is read. They describe the most important funeral that ever took place in this world. From each of these three points of interest we may learn a very profitable lesson. We learn, for one thing, from these verses, that there are some true Christians in the world of whom very little is known. The case of Joseph of Arimathea teaches this very plainly.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1869)
proposed
There is a peculiar interest attached to these five verses of Scripture. They introduce us to a stranger, of whom we never heard before. They bring in an old friend, whose name is known wherever the Bible is read. They describe the most important funeral that ever took place in this world. From each of these three points of interest we may learn a very profitable lesson. We learn, for one thing, from these verses, that there are some true Christians in the world of whom very little is known. The case of Joseph of Arimathea teaches this very plainly. Here is a man named among the friends of Christ, whose very name we never find elsewhere in the New Testament, and whose history, both before and after this crisis, is completely withheld from the Church. He comes forward to do honor to Christ, when the Apostles had forsaken Him and fled. He cares for Him and delights to do Him service, even when dead—not because of any miracle which he saw Him do, but out of free and gratuitous love. He does not hesitate to confess himself one of Christ's friends, at a time when Jews and Romans alike had condemned Him as a malefactor, and put Him to death. Surely the man who could do such things must have had strong faith! Can we wonder that, wherever the Gospel is preached, throughout the whole world, this pious action of Joseph is told of as a memorial of him? Let us hope and believe that there are many Christians in every age, who, like Joseph, are the Lord's hidden servants, unknown to the Church and the world, but well known to God. Even in Elijah's time there were seven thousand in Israel who had never bowed the knee to Baal, although the desponding prophet knew nothing of it.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2390: “A Royal Funeral” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
LET US go to this grave, but not to weep there—no, not to shed so much as a single tear! The stone is rolled away, our Lord's precious body is not there, for Christ has risen from the dead! It may be that, like Mary at the sepulcher, we shall see a vision of angels, but if not, we may behold a company of comforting Truths of God which still linger about the empty tomb of our ascended Lord! We are expressly told, in Holy Scripture, that our Lord was buried.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2390: “A Royal Funeral” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
LET US go to this grave, but not to weep there—no, not to shed so much as a single tear! The stone is rolled away, our Lord's precious body is not there, for Christ has risen from the dead! It may be that, like Mary at the sepulcher, we shall see a vision of angels, but if not, we may behold a company of comforting Truths of God which still linger about the empty tomb of our ascended Lord! We are expressly told, in Holy Scripture, that our Lord was buried. It was evidently not sufficient for us merely to be told that He died—we must also know that He was buried. Why was this? Was it not, first, that we might have a certificate of His death? We do not bury living men and the Lord Jesus would not have been buried if the Centurion had not certified that He was certainly dead. The Roman officer had probably seen Christ's heart pierced by the soldier's spear, when blood and water flowed forth from His side. At any rate, when his men went to execute the coup de grace, which finished the lives of the other two, by the breaking of their legs, they were so certain that He who hung in the middle was really dead that they broke not His legs. Christ's being given up for burial was Pilate's certificate that He had not merely pretended to die, but that it was a real death and that His body had no life remaining in it. This is an essential point, for if Jesus did not die, He has made no Atonement for sin. If He died not, then He rose not—and if He rose not, then your faith is vain, you are yet in your sins! The sepulcher, therefore, occupies a very important place in the story of the death of Jesus. Again, was He not buried to fulfill a type which He had, Himself, chosen? Like as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, in the heart of the sea, even so was the Son of Man to lie for that time in the heart of the earth.
The words behind it
20 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ἦν | en | There was | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| δὲ | de | now | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| τῷ | to | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| τόπῳ | topo | place | G5117 → | 94 times |
| ὅπου | hopou | where | G3699 → | 82 times |
| ἐσταυρώθη | estaurothe | He was crucified | G4717 → | 46 times |
| κῆπος | kepos | a garden | G2779 → | 5 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| τῷ | to | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| κήπῳ | kepo | garden | G2779 → | 5 times |
| μνημεῖον | mnemeion | a tomb | G3419 → | 40 times |
| καινὸν | kainon | new | G2537 → | |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| ᾧ | ho | which | G3739 → | 1405 times |
| οὐδέπω | oudepo | not yet | G3764 → | 4 times |
| οὐδεὶς | oudeis | no [one] | G3762 → | 232 times |
| ἦν | en | was | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| τεθειμένος. | tetheimenos | [already] laid. | G5087 → | 100 times |
ἮνThere was
enG1510 →2333 times
δὲnow
deG1161 →2765 times
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
τῷthe
toG3588 →19766 times
τόπῳplace
topoG5117 →94 times
ὅπουwhere
hopouG3699 →82 times
ἐσταυρώθηHe was crucified
estaurotheG4717 →46 times
κῆποςa garden
keposG2779 →5 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
τῷthe
toG3588 →19766 times
κήπῳgarden
kepoG2779 →5 times
μνημεῖονa tomb
mnemeionG3419 →40 times
καινὸνnew
kainonG2537 →
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
ᾧwhich
hoG3739 →1405 times
οὐδέπωnot yet
oudepoG3764 →4 times
οὐδεὶςno [one]
oudeisG3762 →232 times
ἦνwas
enG1510 →2333 times
τεθειμένος.[already] laid.
tetheimenosG5087 →100 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 27:60and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut into the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away.
it leads to
- Isaiah 53:9
He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 53:9
Through
John 20:15“Woman, why are you weeping?” Jesus asked. “Whom are you seeking?” Thinking He was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried Him off, tell me where you have put Him, and I…
it leads to
- John 18:7
So He asked them again, “Whom are you seeking?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered.
- John 20:13
“Woman, why are you weeping?” they asked. “Because they have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I do not know where they have put Him.”
- Song of Solomon 3:2
I will arise now and go about the city, through the streets and squares. I will seek the one I love. So I sought him but did not find him.
- John 1:38
Jesus turned and saw them following. “What do you want?” He asked. They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are You staying?”
- John 18:7
Through
Luke 23:53Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had yet been laid.
it leads to
- Matthew 27:59–60
So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
- Matthew 27:59–60
Through
2 Kings 23:30From Megiddo his servants carried his body in a chariot, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him,…
it leads to
- 2 Kings 9:28
Then his servants carried him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David.
- 2 Kings 9:28
Through
Isaiah 22:16What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?
it leads to
- Matthew 27:60
and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut into the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away.
- Matthew 27:60
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies25
- Blue, Purple and Scarlet
- Hanged on a tree
- How Greek Works
- Irony in Scripture: More Than the Speaker Knows
- Mary Magdalene: the Witness at the Tomb
- Mary of Nazareth
Show the next 6 titles
- Messianic Prophecy
- The Messianic Psalms
- Nicodemus at Night. John 3
- Passover
- The Scarlet Thread
- Scribes and the Sanhedrin
Show the next 6 titles
About John

This page draws on 17 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John 120; Bonaventure, Commentary on John, Chapter 19; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2390: “A Royal Funeral” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 12; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 13:19; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 14:11; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jerome, LETTER 48.21; John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of John 85; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, AGAINST CELSUS 2.69; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on John; Theophylact of Ohrid, Catena Aurea by Aquinas and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on John.
