What time did Jesus die?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, no-one knows in which year Jesus died, Easter is calculated from the date of Passover - which is a movable feast so Easter also varies between March and May depending on whether Orthodox or Western calculations are used. So, "Springtime" is the closest answer.

Answer 2

Roman time and the Roman calendar differed greatly from our own, as did the Hebraic. The generally accepted estimate is sometime around 3pm as we calculate time today.

AnswerThis can be found from Mark's Gospel, which gives us the chronology of the last twenty four hours in the life of Jesus, breaking them up into eight segments each of exactly three hours, and the other gospels follow this pattern more or less faithfully:

• The story begins "when it was evening" (Mark 14:17), or when the sun went down: approximately 6 pm.
• Mark knew that the duration of the Passover meal was three hours and that it concluded with the singing of a hymn, so at the end of his segment he says, "And when they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives". It was about 9 pm.
• Mark then has Jesus and the disciples go to the Garden of Gethsemane, where his disciples, Peter, James and John, were not able to remain awake. "Could you not watch one hour?" Jesus asked. The process was repeated two more times. The disciples could not watch one, two or three hours. It was now midnight.
• The act of betrayal, the darkest deed in human history, came next, occurring at the stroke of midnight.
• At 3:00 am., Jesus was led away for a trial before the high priest and other senior priests and elders. This governing body then judged him, on the basis of his messianic claim, to be worthy of death.
• The watch of the night between 3 am and 6 am was called cockcrow. Peter's threefold denial of Jesus, once each hour until the cock crowed, marked the end of that phase of the night. That makes it 6 am.
• "As soon as it was morning", which would be 6 am, Jesus was led by the chief priests, scribes and elders to Pontius Pilate for judgement.
• "It was the third hour when they crucified him," that is, 9 o'clock.
• When "the sixth hour had come" (12 noon), darkness covered the whole earth, reflecting the betrayal at 12 midnight.
• After three hours of darkness, at 3 p.m., Jesus cried out and gave up the ghost.
• Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus, so that he could be buried before the Sabbath began. Jesus was buried in the final period from 3 to 6 pm, before the sun went down.

From this carefully constructed narrative, we can see that Jesus died at exactly 3 p.m. He had exactly nine hours to live when he was handed over to Pontius Pilate.

Answer 3

It was 3:00 P.M. according to our modern count equivalent to the 9th hour:

Matthew 27:45-46New King James Version (NKJV) Jesus Dies on the Cross45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

Answer 4

Mark's Gospel is the most structured account of exactly what happened to Jesus in the last day of his life - perhaps too well structured to be entirely credible. He divided the last twenty four hours up into eight periods of exactly three hours each, with Jesus dying at 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon:

Mark 15:34-7: "And at the ninth hour [3:00 PM] Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost."

Matthew corroborates Mark's record of Christ's death: "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost." Matthew 27:47-50.

Answer 5

A:We can say exactly when Jesus was arrested, exactly when he was placed on the cross and exactly when he died, because Mark's Gospel divides the last twenty four hours in the life of Jesus into eight periods of just three hours each, marking off time to measure the three hours in each period:

• "When it was evening", or approximately 6 pm, Jesus and the disciples began the Last Supper.
• The duration of the Passover meal was three hours and it concluded with the singing of a hymn. So at the end of his segment Mark noted, "And when they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives". It was about 9 p.m.
• Jesus and the disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where his closest disciples, Peter, James and John, were not able to remain awake. "Could you not watch one hour?" Jesus asked. The process was repeated two more times. The disciples could not watch one, two or three hours. It was now midnight.
• The act of betrayal, the darkest deed in human history occurred at the stroke of midnight.
• Jesus was led away for a trial before the Sanhedrin. This governing body then judged him, on the basis of his messianic claim, to be worthy of death. It was 3:00 a.m.
• The watch of the night between 3 am and 6 am was called cockcrow. Mark now inserted his account of Peter's threefold denial of Jesus, once each hour until the cock crowed, marking the end of that phase of the night. That makes it 6 a.m.
• "As soon as it was morning", which would be 6 o'clock, Jesus was led by the chief priests, scribes and elders to Pontius Pilate for judgement.
• "It was the third hour", or 9 o'clock "when they crucified him".
• When "the sixth hour had come" (12 noon), as if on cue, darkness covered the whole earth for three hours, a counterpoint to the midnight betrayal.
• At the end of the three hours, at 3 p.m., Jesus said "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
• Jesus was buried in the final period from 3 to 6 p.m., before the sun went down and the Sabbath began.

This structure was copied more or less faithfully by the authors of Matthew and Luke, without consciously following the chronology of Mark. However, the author of John's Gospel changed some of the times, while still having Jesus die at 3 p.m.

Answer 6

A:Mark's Gospel provides a very detailed account of the last twenty four hours in the life of Jesus, neatly dividing it into eight three-hour segments, so that we know exactly when each major event occurred:

• "When it was evening" (14:17), or approximately 6 pm, Jesus and the disciples began the Last Supper.
• The duration of the Passover meal was three hours and it concluded with the singing of a hymn. So at the end of his segment Mark noted, "And when they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives". It was about 9 p.m.
• Jesus and the disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where his closest disciples, Peter, James and John, were not able to remain awake. "Could you not watch one hour?" Jesus asked. The process was repeated two more times. The disciples could not watch one, two or three hours. It was now midnight.
• The act of betrayal, the darkest deed in human history, came next, occurring at the stroke of midnight.
• Jesus was led away for a trial before the Sanhedrin. This governing body then judged him, on the basis of his messianic claim, to be worthy of death. It was 3:00 a.m.
• Mark now inserted his account of Peter's threefold denial of Jesus, once each hour until the cock crowed, marking the end of that phase of the night. That makes it 6 a.m.
• "As soon as it was morning", which would be 6 o'clock, Jesus was led by the chief priests, scribes and elders to Pontius Pilate for judgement.
• "It was the third hour", or 9 o'clock "when they crucified him".
• When "the sixth hour had come" (12 noon), as if on cue, darkness covered the whole earth for three hours, a counterpoint to the midnight betrayal.
• At the end of the three hours, at 3 p.m., Jesus said "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" and gave up the ghost.
• Jesus was buried in the final period from 3 to 6 p.m., before the sun went down and the holy sabbath arrived.

We can see from this that Jesus dies on the cross at exactly 3 o'clock on Friday afternoon.