Matthew 27:3-5

Judas’ Suicide

27:3 Now when ¹  Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus ²  had been condemned, he regretted what he had done and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders, 27:4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood!” But they said, “What is that to us? You take care of it yourself!” 27:5 So ³  Judas threw the silver coins into the temple and left. Then he went out and hanged himself.

Genesis 37:26-28

37:26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 37:27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let’s not lay a hand on him, ⁴  for after all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed. ⁵  37:28 So when the Midianite ⁶  merchants passed by, Joseph’s brothers pulled ⁷  him ⁸  out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites ⁹  then took Joseph to Egypt.

Zechariah 11:12-13

11:12 Then I ¹⁰  said to them, “If it seems good to you, pay me my wages, but if not, forget it.” So they weighed out my payment – thirty pieces of silver. ¹¹  11:13 The Lord then said to me, “Throw to the potter that exorbitant sum ¹²  at which they valued me!” So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter ¹³  at the temple ¹⁴  of the Lord.

Acts 1:18

1:18 (Now this man Judas ¹⁵  acquired a field with the reward of his unjust deed, ¹⁶  and falling headfirst ¹⁷  he burst open in the middle and all his intestines ¹⁸  gushed out.

[27:3]  ¹ tn Grk “Then when.” Here τότε (tote) has been translated as “now” to indicate a somewhat parenthetical interlude in the sequence of events.

[27:3]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:5]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the leaders’ response to Judas.

[37:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “let not our hand be upon him.”

[37:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “listened.”

[37:28]  ⁶ sn On the close relationship between Ishmaelites (v. 25) and Midianites, see Judg 8:24.

[37:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “they drew and they lifted up.” The referent (Joseph’s brothers) has been specified in the translation for clarity; otherwise the reader might assume the Midianites had pulled Joseph from the cistern (but cf. NAB).

[37:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “Joseph” (both here and in the following clause); the proper name has been replaced both times by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[37:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Ishmaelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:12]  ¹⁰ sn The speaker (Zechariah) represents the Lord, who here is asking what his service as faithful shepherd has been worth in the opinion of his people Israel.

[11:12]  ¹¹ sn If taken at face value, thirty pieces (shekels) of silver was worth about two and a half years’ wages for a common laborer. The Code of Hammurabi prescribes a monthly wage for a laborer of one shekel. If this were the case in Israel, 30 shekels would be the wages for 2 1/2 years (R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, pp. 76, 204-5). For other examples of “thirty shekels” as a conventional payment, see K. Luke, “The Thirty Pieces of Silver (Zech. 11:12f.), Ind TS 19 (1982): 26-30. Luke, on the basis of Sumerian analogues, suggests that “thirty” came to be a term meaning anything of little or no value (p. 30). In this he follows Erica Reiner, “Thirty Pieces of Silver,” in Essays in Memory of E. A. Speiser, AOS 53, ed. William W. Hallo (New Haven, Conn.: American Oriental Society, 1968), 186-90. Though the 30 shekels elsewhere in the OT may well be taken literally, the context of Zech. 11:12 may indeed support Reiner and Luke in seeing it as a pittance here, not worth considering (cf. Exod 21:32; Lev 27:4; Matt 26:15).

[11:13]  ¹² tn Heb “splendor of splendor” (אֶדֶר הַיְקָר, ’eder hayqar). This expression sarcastically draws attention to the incredibly low value placed upon the Lord’s redemptive grace by his very own people.

[11:13]  ¹³ tn The Syriac presupposes הָאוֹצָר (ha’otsar, “treasury”) for the MT הַיּוֹצֵר (hayyotser, “potter”) perhaps because of the lack of evidence for a potter’s shop in the area of the temple. The Syriac reading is followed by NAB, NRSV, TEV. Matthew seems to favor this when he speaks of Judas having thrown the thirty shekels for which he betrayed Jesus into the temple treasury (27:5-6). However, careful reading of the whole gospel pericope makes it clear that the money actually was used to purchase a “potter’s field,” hence Zechariah’s reference to a potter. The MT reading is followed by most other English versions.

[11:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “house” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[1:18]  ¹⁵ tn The referent of “this man” (Judas) was specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:18]  ¹⁶ tn Traditionally, “with the reward of his wickedness.”

[1:18]  ¹⁷ tn Traditionally, “falling headlong.”

[1:18]  ¹⁸ tn Or “all his bowels.”