When exactly was Jesus crucified and resurrected ?

From Biblical truth, supported with astronomical data and historical facts, it is possible to compute the exact dates of crucifixion and resurrection as follows.

The Hour

  1. Jesus died in the 9th Hebrew hour (Mt 27:46-50), corresponding to 3 p.m. numbered from midnight.

The Day

  1. Jesus got crucified on the Preparation Day, one day before the Jewish Passover festival (Mt 27:62-64).

  2. After Jesus had died, Mary Magdalene bought spices to anoint Jesus' body one day after a Sabbath (Mk 16:1). The same story happened one day before a Sabbath (Lk 23:56). Note that the Bible refers to two different Sabbaths. Specifically, the former (high) Sabbath is the Torah Passover while the latter (regular) Sabbath is the 7th day in the Hebrew calendar. Ergo, Passover started on the 5th day and Jesus died on the 4th day, ranging from Tuesday 6 pm to Wednesday 6 pm according to our Gregorian calendar.

The Date

  1. John baptized Jesus in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar (Lk 3:1), i.e. 29 A.D. Tiberius Caesar reigned from 16 September 14 A.D. – 14 March 37 A.D. (Gregorian Calendar, Wikipedia).

  2. Jesus got questioned by the high priest Caiaphas (Mt 26:57) who was appointed from 18 A.D. - 36 A.D. (bible-history).

  3. Passover starts on 14 Nissan (Lv 23:5-6). Nissan is the first month in the Jewish calendar. During the Roman period Nissan started on the first visible crescent after the spring equinox. Hence, the day of Passover corresponds to the astronomical New Moon after the spring equinox + 14 days + 24 hours for the crescent be visible. Historical data on Vernal Equinox can be found on NASA's homepage here and detailed calculus on historical moon phases can be found on Astropixels here. Subsequent table shows a summary of the findings. All timings are in Local Time i.e., Greenwich Time + 2 hrs.

    Year Vernal Equinox Astronomical New Moon Conjunction First evening of visible crescent 1st day of Nisan 14th day of Nisan (Passover)
    (Gregorian calendar) (On date, or first after vernal Equinox) (Midnight to midnight) (Beginning at sunset the evening before...) (Beginning at sunset the evening before...)
    29 A.D. Tue, Mar. 20, 10:17am Sat, Mar. 31, 7:30pm* Mon, Apr. 2 Tue, Apr. 3 Mon, Apr. 16
    30 A.D. Wed, Mar. 20, 4:06pm Wed, Mar. 20, 7:47pm* Fri, Mar. 22 Sat, Mar. 23 Fri, Apr. 5
    31 A.D. Thu, Mar. 20, 9:55 pm Tue, Apr. 8, 1:33 pm Wed, Apr. 9 Thu, Apr. 10 Wed, Apr. 23
    32 A.D. Sat, Mar. 20, 3:44am Sat, Mar. 27, 10.01pm* Mon, Mar. 29 Tue, Mar. 30 Mon, Apr. 12
    33 A.D. Sun, Mar. 20, 9:34am Fri, Apr. 15, 9:10pm* Sun, Apr. 17 Mon, Apr. 18 Sun, May 1
    34 A.D. Mon, Mar. 20, 3:23pm Wed, Apr. 5, 1:43pm Thu, Apr. 6 Fri, Apr. 7 Thu, Apr. 20
    35 A.D. Tue, Mar. 20, 9:12pm Mon, Mar. 26, 6:06am Tue, Mar. 27 Wed, Mar. 28 Tue, Apr. 10
    36 A.D. Thu, Mar. 20, 3:01am Sun, Apr. 13, 4:51am Mon, Apr. 14 Tue, Apr. 15 Mon, Apr. 28
    *too late in the day for crescent to be seen the next evening.

    4. Following this approach, it can be seen that Jesus died on Gregorian Wed, 23 April 31 A.D. at 3 p.m. local time.

  4. Jesus said that he would be dead for 3 days and 3 nights (Mt 12:40). Hence, Jesus resurrected on Gregorian Sat, 26 April 31 A.D..

  5. A cross-check: Mary Magdalena went to the grave of Jesus early in the morning on the 1st day of the week (i.e. Gregorian Sunday), and the corpse of Jesus was not there (Mt 28:1).