ContradictionsReading order 263Bible context 2 min read
When did the women (or woman) arrive at the sepulchre?
John places Mary's arrival in darkness, while Mark says the sun is rising and Matthew describes the beginning of dawn.
- Textual conflict
- Interpretive tension
- The passages pull in different directions, but the conflict depends on how their wording, scope, or narrative context is read.
- Importance
- Supporting
- A supporting event, teaching, or biographical claim.
The corresponding opening tomb visit occurs while dark in John and at sunrise in Mark, though dawn terminology and possible separate arrivals limit precision.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
Mary reaches the tomb while it is still dark
The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
John 20:1
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:John 20
The women arrive around dawn or sunrise
In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
Matthew 28:1
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Matthew 28