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How does Matthew 27:9-10 fulfill prophecy?

Matthew speaks Judas and the thirty pieces of silver as being a fulfillment of prophecy from Jeremiah. My bible notes reference Jeremiah 32:6-9. I am having trouble with this correlation of scripture. It seems more related to Zech 11:12-13.

Matthew 27:9 - 10

ESV - 9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel. 10 And they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me.

Clarify Share Report Asked April 06 2017 Mini Chuck Long

For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.

Closeup Jennifer Rothnie

There are a number of theories as to why this prophecy is attributed to Jeremiah and not Zechariah:

1) Matthew often left out the names of prophets in his gospel. It might have been that he originally wrote it was a fulfillment of 'the words of the prophets,' while a later scribe added in the name. There is some minimal manuscript evidence for this, but it is offset by the larger body of evidence that Jeremiah was the correct reading early on.

2) Jeremiah was placed first in the order of the prophetic books in the Hebrew Bible, so was considered the 'first of the prophets' in that sense, and the books of the prophets were sometimes addressed entirely as 'Jeremiah' because of this. This is plausible, and even a tradition from scripture as Jesus calls the Writings by 'Psalms' since it was the first book in (Lu 24:41).

3) A scribal error from Zechariah to Jeremiah would only take one letter if abridged names were being used, so it could have been a mistake brought in early on.

4) It could be that Jeremiah spoke this and Zechariah recorded it - but this is highly speculative.

April 06 2017 Report

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