Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/374

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APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.

word. And Joseph said, Wherefore have ye called for me? And they signified to Nicodemus to tell Joseph. And Nicodemus opened his mouth, and said to Joseph, Father, thou knowest that the honourable teachers, and priests and Levites seek to learn something from thee. And Joseph said, Ask. And Annas and Caiaphas took the law, and made Joseph swear, saying, Give glory to the God of Israel, and give confession to him. Because when Achan[1] was sworn by the prophet Joshua,[2] he did not forswear himself, but told him all, and hid nothing from him. Thou, therefore, hide not anything from us. And Joseph said, I will not hide from you one word. And they said to him, We were exceedingly grieved that thou didst ask for the body of Jesus, and didst wrap it in clean linen, and didst lay him in a sepulchre. And for this cause we secured thee in a house wherein there was no window, and we put locks and seals upon the doors, and guards watched where thou wast confined. And when we opened it on the first day of the week, we found thee not, and were greatly troubled. And astonishment fell upon all the people of the Lord until yesterday. And now tell us what befel thee.

And Joseph said, On the preparation, about the tenth hour, ye put me in prison, and I remained so all the sabbath. And about midnight, as I stood and prayed, the house wherein ye shut me was sus-

  1. Gr. Achar.
  2. Gr. Jesus; Josh. vii. 19-20.