Early … morning translates the same Greek adverb rendered early in the morning at 18.28. On Sunday (so also Barclay; New English Bible “on the Sunday”) is literally “on the first day of the week” (so most translations); Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “on the day after the Sabbath.” “The first day of the week” is Sunday, and Good News Translation, New English Bible, and Barclay make this information explicit. The entire phrase Early on Sunday morning could include all or part of the period from around three A.M. to around six A.M. (see note at 18.28). John further qualifies the time as while it was still dark. Mark has “very early on Sunday morning, at sunrise” (16.2), and Luke has “very early on Sunday morning” (24.1), a term which implies daylight. Matthew also indicates that it was daylight, “after the Sabbath, as Sunday morning was dawning” (28.1).
Although the Greek word sabbatōn occurs in this verse, its plural form has the meaning “week” and not “sabbath.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch‘s “after the Sabbath” has the difficulty that for many Christians “the sabbath” is erroneously identified with Sunday, rather than with Saturday. A literal translation of the Greek phrase, “the first day of the week,” could be misleading, since for many people Monday is the first day of the week, and Sunday is part of the “weekend.” Therefore, it is usually better to identify the particular day of the week, rather than to use a possibly ambiguous expression.
Mary Magdalene was first mentioned in 19.25 (see comments there). The number and names of the women who go to the tomb differ in the various Gospel accounts. Matthew names two women, and Mark three. Luke mentions three women by name and includes in addition “the other women.” In each case Mary Magdalene is mentioned first.
John does not suggest why the women went to the tomb, but Mark and Luke indicate that they were going to anoint Jesus’ body, while Matthew states that they went to see the tomb.
Although (Mark 15.46) and (Matthew 27.60) indicate that a large stone was rolled against the entrance to the tomb after the burial of Jesus, 20.1 is the first mention of the stone in John’s Gospel. John does not indicate how the stone had been taken away, but the implication is that it was done by supernatural means.
Since the stone has not been mentioned earlier in John’s Gospel, there may be some difficulty in translating the phrase literally. The final clause of this verse may therefore be modified to read “that a stone which had been at the entrance to the tomb had been taken away” or “… had been moved.” In some languages the passive expression “had been moved” may cause difficulty because it may be necessary to indicate an agent, and no agent is mentioned in the text. Therefore it may be best to say simply that the stone “was no longer there.”
From the entrance (so also New English Bible) is literally “from the tomb” (so most translations). The results of archaeological studies indicate that the entrance to burial tombs of this type was on ground level through a small entryway, usually no more than three feet (or one meter) high. Hence, to enter the tomb, an adult would have to bend over and crawl in (note verse 5: He bent over). The entrance may be expressed in some languages as “the hole that led into the tomb” or “the hole by which a person could go into the tomb.” The use of such a term as “hole” may be necessary to indicate that the tomb was entered by a small opening, rather than an ordinary door.
Several different types of tombs were in use in Palestine in Jesus’ day. Verse 12 (two angels … sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and the other at the feet) suggests that Jesus’ body had lain in a niche carved in one of the sides of the cave. Under no circumstances was the body laid on the floor.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .