Was Jesus crucified on Wednesday or Friday?
ContestedTexts of equal or higher authority genuinely pull both ways, and SAM names both sides.
The texts are genuinely contested: all four Gospels place the crucifixion on a "Preparation Day" before a Sabbath, which most naturally points to Friday, but Jesus' own words, "three days and three nights", create a real tension with a Friday-to-Sunday span, and John's "high Sabbath" opens the door to a mid-week crucifixion. The text does not resolve which reading is correct.
Two sets of Jesus' own statements pull in different directions: his "on the third day" sayings (Matthew 20:19; Mark 10:34; Luke 18:33) fit Friday-to-Sunday with inclusive counting, but his "three days and three nights" (Matthew 12:40) requires an unstated assumption to fit that same span. Both are his own words at the same tier, and the text does not state which counting method governs.
The unresolved tension: The text is silent on which counting convention (inclusive partial-day or literal 72-hour) applies to "three days and three nights," and on whether the Sabbath in Mark 15:42 is the weekly Sabbath or the feast-Sabbath of 15 Nisan. These two unresolved questions are what keep the crucifixion day genuinely contested.
…and 37 more verses weighed in the full analysis.
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SAM answers from primary-source texts only, weighing each verse by its authority tier. Every quotation is verified word-for-word. How the method works →