Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/409

Rh whom ye crucified. We have heard moreover that ye had Joseph shut in the prison, and that ye afterwards opened the doors and found him not. Do ye then give up Joseph, and then we will also give you Jesus. The Jews said, Joseph who escaped from prison ye will find at Arimathea, his own place. And the soldiers said, Go ye also into Galilee, and ye will find Jesus, as the angel said to the women.

Hereupon the Jews were afraid, and said to the soldiers, See that ye tell this matter to no one, or all will believe in Jesus. On which account, also, they gave them much money. And the soldiers said, We are afraid lest Pilate should hear that we have received money, and should put us to death. But the Jews said, Take it, and we pledge ourselves to give to Pilate an answer for you; only, say that ye slept, and that in your sleep the disciples of Jesus came and stole him out of the sepulchre. Therefore the soldiers took the money, and said as they were told. And until this day the same false report is spoken among the Jews.

after a few days, three men came from Galilee to Jerusalem. One of them was a priest, Phinehas by name, another was a Levite, by name Aggæus,