And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.
The chief priests took counsel together and used the silver Judas returned, the price of blood, to buy the potter's field. They refused to put that money into the temple treasury because, as the price of blood, they considered it unfit for that use. They bought the field to serve as a burial place, a public burial ground, for strangers. Because of this purchase with blood money, the field came to be called the Field of Blood. The casting of the thirty pieces of silver to the potter in the house of the Lord and the purchase of the field fulfilled the prophecy about the price paid for Jesus, the prophecy of Zechariah concerning the thirty pieces of silver.
The verse belongs to the larger account of Judas's betrayal, death, and burial, in which his mangled and mutilated body was found as Jesus was being led to execution and orders were given to bury his remains at once. In that setting, Judas's death stands as a grim, early sign of retribution upon those guilty of Jesus' blood. The conduct surrounding the purchase is a warning that professed piety does not excuse actions contrary to God's law. One telling of the burial episode records the order to bury Judas without explaining the purchase or use of the potter's field.
The chief priests took counsel together and used the silver Judas returned, the price of blood, to buy the potter's field. They refused to put that money into the temple treasury because, as the price of blood, they considered it unfit for that use. They bought the field to serve as a burial place, a public burial ground, for strangers. Because of this purchase with blood money, the field came to be called the Field of Blood. The casting of the thirty pieces of silver to the potter in the house of the Lord and the purchase of the field fulfilled the prophecy about the price paid for Jesus, the prophecy of Zechariah concerning the thirty pieces of silver.
The verse belongs to the larger account of Judas's betrayal, death, and burial, in which his mangled and mutilated body was found as Jesus was being led to execution and orders were given to bury his remains at once. In that setting, Judas's death stands as a grim, early sign of retribution upon those guilty of Jesus' blood. The conduct surrounding the purchase is a warning that professed piety does not excuse actions contrary to God's law. One telling of the burial episode records the order to bury Judas without explaining the purchase or use of the potter's field.