24 Easter Bible verses to read on Resurrection Sunday
Written by Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt · Reviewed by Raphael Navarro Schmitt ·
Short answer
All four Gospels tell the morning of the resurrection, and all four begin with women going to the tomb at first light. Luke 24:5 carries the question that sums up the day: why seek the living with the dead? Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:14, says that without it Christian faith does not stand.
One thing stands out when you read the four accounts back to back: they do not line up on the details. One angel or two, one woman or several, still dark or the sun already up. Texts invented to persuade are usually tidier than that. And all four have the women arrive first, in a setting where their testimony counted for little — which is nobody’s choice if there is a choice.
The second thing is the size of the scenes. The resurrection is not announced from a platform: it turns up in a garden, when someone is called by name; on a road, when bread is broken; in a locked room, when hands are shown. Always small, always with few people, always with the recognition arriving late.
The list follows the narrative — tomb, appearances, sending — and then opens out into what the apostles did with the event. If you only have time for one passage, read Luke 24.
All 24 verses, one by one
22The stone which the builders have rejected, this has become the head of the corner.
23By the Lord has this been done, and it is a wonder before our eyes.
24This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us exult and rejoice in it.
A psalm written centuries earlier, and quoted to exhaustion by the apostles. "This is the day" became an Easter greeting, but the line before it is the one that matters: what was thrown out became the piece holding up the building.
Read the chapterHe will violently cast down death forever. And the Lord God will take away the tears from every face, and he will take away the disgrace of his people from the entire earth. For the Lord has spoken it.
The verb is final: death cast down, forever. Isaiah is not describing death postponed or softened — and once it is down, somebody is still there taking the tears off faces.
Read the chapter25Jesus said to her: “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in me, even though he has died, he shall live.
26And everyone who lives and believes in me shall not die for eternity. Do you believe this?”
Said in front of a tomb, to a woman who has just buried her brother. And it ends in a question — do you believe this? — rather than a conclusion, which leaves the sentence open to whoever is reading.
Read the chapter1Then, on the first Sabbath, at very first light, they went to the tomb, carrying the aromatic spices that they had prepared.
2And they found the stone rolled back from the tomb.
3And upon entering, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4And it happened that, while their minds were still confused about this, behold, two men stood beside them, in shining apparel.
5Then, since they were afraid and were turning their faces toward the ground, these two said to them: “Why do you seek the living with the dead?
6He is not here, for he has risen. Recall how he spoke to you, when he was still in Galilee,
They went carrying spices to anoint a body. The whole account begins with people who were expecting nothing — which makes an enormous difference to the credibility of the story.
Read the chapter1Now on the morning of the Sabbath, when it began to grow light on the first Sabbath, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulcher.
2And behold, a great earthquake occurred. For an Angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and as he approached, he rolled back the stone and sat down on it.
3Now his appearance was like lightning, and his vestment was like snow.
4Then, out of fear of him, the guards were terrified, and they became like dead men.
5Then the Angel responded by saying to the women: “Do not be afraid. For I know that you are seeking Jesus, who was crucified.
6He is not here. For he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where the Lord was placed.
Look at what the angel does after the announcement: he invites them to come and see. Easter, in Matthew, begins with an invitation to check, not with a request for blind trust.
Read the chapter1And when the Sabbath had passed, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought aromatic spices, so that when they arrived they could anoint Jesus.
2And very early in the morning, on the first of the Sabbaths, they went to the tomb, the sun having now risen.
3And they said to one another, “Who will roll back the stone for us, away from the entrance of the tomb?”
4And looking, they saw that the stone was rolled back. For certainly it was very large.
5And upon entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, covered with a white robe, and they were astonished.
6And he said to them, “Do not become frightened. You are seeking Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One. He has risen. He is not here. Behold, the place where they laid him.
Their worry on the way is logistical: who is going to roll back the stone? Mark records the practical question and the answer that was already in place — solved before they got there.
Read the chapter1Then on the first Sabbath, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and she saw that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb.
2Therefore, she ran and went to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and she said to them, “They have taken the Lord away from the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
3Therefore, Peter departed with the other disciple, and they went to the tomb.
4Now they both ran together, but the other disciple ran more quickly, ahead of Peter, and so he arrived at the tomb first.
5And when he bowed down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not yet enter.
6Then Simon Peter arrived, following him, and he entered the tomb, and he saw the linen cloths lying there,
7and the separate cloth which had been over his head, not placed with the linen cloths, but in a separate place, wrapped up by itself.
8Then the other disciple, who had arrived first at the tomb, also entered. And he saw and believed.
9For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that it was necessary for him to rise again from the dead.
The scene has a race, a disciple who arrives first and does not go in, and a cloth folded up on its own. That last detail serves no purpose in the narrative, which is typical of someone describing what they saw.
Read the chapter11But Mary was standing outside the tomb, weeping. Then, while she was weeping, she bowed down and gazed into the tomb.
12And she saw two Angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been placed, one at the head, and one at the feet.
13They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have placed him.”
14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
15Jesus said to her: “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you seeking?” Considering that it was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have moved him, tell me where you have placed him, and I will take him away.”
16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” And turning, she said to him, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher).
She talks to him thinking he is the gardener. The recognition does not come by argument or by miracle: it comes when he says her name. It is the most intimate scene in the Bible.
Read the chapter13And behold, two of them went out, on the same day, to a town named Emmaus, which was the distance of sixty stadia from Jerusalem.
14And they spoke to one another about all of these things that had occurred.
15And it happened that, while they were speculating and questioning within themselves, Jesus himself, drawing near, traveled with them.
16But their eyes were restrained, so that they would not recognize him.
Two disciples walking away, talking about the failure. Jesus draws near and travels with them without identifying himself — walking a good distance listening to the wrong version of his own story.
Read the chapter30And it happened that, while he was at table with them, he took bread, and he blessed and broke it, and he extended it to them.
31And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their eyes.
32And they said to one another, “Was not our heart burning within us, while he was speaking on the way, and when he opened the Scriptures to us?”
They recognise him in the breaking of the bread, not in the scriptural explanation that came before it. And only then do they notice their hearts had been burning on the road — which is nearly always how it goes, and always afterwards.
Read the chapter19Then, when it was late on the same day, on the first of the Sabbaths, and the doors were closed where the disciples were gathered, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and he said to them: “Peace to you.”
20And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and side. And the disciples were gladdened when they saw the Lord.
Doors closed out of fear, and his first word is peace. The second thing he does is show himself plainly, so that nobody in that room has to rely on somebody else’s word for it.
Read the chapter18And Jesus, drawing near, spoke to them, saying: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
19Therefore, go forth and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20teaching them to observe all that I have ever commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the consummation of the age.”
The resurrection ends in a sending, not in contemplation. And the last sentence is the promise that holds up the rest: I am with you always, including the ordinary days.
Read the chapterAnd he whom God has raised up has broken the sorrows of Hell, for certainly it was impossible for him to be held by it.
The clause that carries the weight is the second: it was impossible for him to be held. Peter is preaching in the same city where it all happened, weeks later, to people who were in a position to contradict him.
Read the chapterThis Jesus, God raised up again, and of this we are all witnesses.
One short sentence that is the core of all early Christian preaching. Note the plural: we are all witnesses. The claim is not doctrinal, it is testimonial.
Read the chapter3For I handed on to you, first of all, what I also received: that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures;
4and that he was buried; and that he rose again on the third day, according to the Scriptures;
5and that he was seen by Cephas, and after that by the eleven.
6Next he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at one time, many of whom remain, even to the present time, although some have fallen asleep.
7Next, he was seen by James, then by all the Apostles.
8And last of all, he was seen also by me, as if I were someone born at the wrong time.
The oldest text we have about the resurrection, older than the Gospels. Paul lists witnesses and says most of them are still alive — an implicit invitation to go and ask.
Read the chapterAnd if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is useless, and your faith is also useless.
The rarest honesty in the Bible: if it did not happen, all of this is useless. Paul offers no symbolic reading held in reserve, and that is what makes the claim checkable.
Read the chapter20But now Christ has risen again from the dead, as the first-fruits of those who sleep.
21For certainly, death came through a man. And so, the resurrection of the dead came through a man
22And just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be brought to life,
The word is first-fruits: the first of the crop taken in, proof that the whole field is coming behind it. The resurrection, in this text, is not an isolated case — it is the start of a harvest.
Read the chapter54And when this mortality has been clothed with immortality, then the word that was written shall occur: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57But thanks be to God, who has given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul ends the chapter mocking death with two questions. It is the passage read at almost every Christian funeral, and the original tone is taunting, not politely consoling.
Read the chapter4For through baptism we have been buried with him into death, so that, in the manner that Christ rose from the dead, by the glory of the Father, so may we also walk in the newness of life.
5For if we have been planted together, in the likeness of his death, so shall we also be, in the likeness of his resurrection.
The resurrection turns up here as a present-tense matter, and the verb is in the first person plural. It is not only what happened to him that Sunday — it is what is expected to show up in the week of anyone who believes.
Read the chapterBut if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead lives within you, then he who raised up Jesus Christ from the dead shall also enliven your mortal bodies, by means of his Spirit living within you.
The same power from that morning applied to mortal bodies, now. Paul insists on "living within you", which changes the address of the whole thing.
Read the chapter1Therefore, if you have risen together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
2Consider the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth.
3For you have died, and so your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4When Christ, your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
If Easter does not change what you go looking for on Monday, it has become a bank holiday. That is the point of the text, and it is made without any circling around.
Read the chapter3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has regenerated us into a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead:
4unto an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance, which is reserved for you in heaven.
The phrase is "a living hope", set against the hope we usually run on — the kind that depends on things working out. Peter is writing this to people under persecution.
Read the chapter10So shall I know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his Passion, having been fashioned according to his death,
11if, by some means, I might attain to the resurrection which is from the dead.
Paul asks for two things in the same sentence: the power of the resurrection and the fellowship of the Passion. He does not separate them, which blocks any reading of Easter as a happy ending without a Friday.
Read the chapter17And when I had seen him, I fell at his feet, like one who is dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.
18And I am alive, though I was dead. And, behold, I live forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death and of Hell.
Last on the list because it closes the arc: the speaker mentions his own death in the past and his own life in the present, in that order. And he says he holds the keys — the image of someone opening from the inside a door that only ever locked from outside.
Read the chapter
Frequently asked questions
What does the Bible say about Easter?
All four Gospels narrate the morning of the resurrection, in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20, each beginning with women going to the tomb at first light. 1 Corinthians 15 carries the oldest record of the event and states that without it Christian faith does not stand.
Which verse should I read on Easter Sunday?
Luke 24:5-6 is the most direct passage to read aloud: it holds the question and the announcement in two lines. For something longer, Luke 24:13-32 tells the meeting on the road to Emmaus, which reads well as a family because it has scene and dialogue.
What is the difference between Passover and Easter?
Passover, described in Exodus 12, marks the exodus from Egypt and the lamb whose blood spared the houses. Easter marks the resurrection of Jesus, which happened during that festival. The New Testament links the two explicitly by calling Christ our Passover in 1 Corinthians 5:7.
Why do the resurrection accounts differ in their details?
Because they are four testimonies, not one document. The number of angels, the hour and who arrived first all vary, but the four agree on the essentials: the empty tomb, the announcement, and women as the first witnesses — a detail nobody would invent in a setting where their testimony counted for little.
A prayer to take with you
Lord, you beat death before dawn, with no audience and no announcement. Do the same with what is dead inside me and that I have already given up on. Let me recognise you in small things, the way someone recognises bread being broken. Amen.