Did Jeremiah say it, or Zechariah? Matthew 27:9-10

The passages

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.

Matthew 27:9-10

And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter.

Zechariah 11:12-13

The problem

The thirty pieces of silver and the potter come from Zechariah. Nothing in the book of Jeremiah has that wording. Jeremiah does have two episodes involving a potter (chapter 18) and the purchase of a field (chapter 32), and a smashed jar at the valley of Hinnom (chapter 19). So Matthew appears to name the wrong prophet, or to merge texts.

What believers and scholars say

A composite quotation attributed to the major prophet. Jewish writers sometimes named only the more prominent prophet when quoting a combined passage, and Jeremiah headed the prophetic scroll in some manuscript traditions (the Talmud, Baba Bathra 14b, lists Jeremiah first). On this view Matthew's attribution covers the whole collection. Mark 1:2 does something similar when it attributes a mix of Malachi and Isaiah to Isaiah.

Matthew blends texts on purpose. France and others observe that Matthew combines Zechariah's silver and potter with Jeremiah's potter and field and with the broken jar. He names Jeremiah because he wants the Jeremiah themes of judgment and the purchase of a field to be heard.

A scribal or memory error. Some ancient copyists replaced "Jeremiah" with "Zechariah" or removed the name, which suggests that scribes also noticed the difficulty. Critics say that Matthew simply made a slip.

Where this leaves it

The quoted words are plainly from Zechariah, and that is not disputed. The attribution is explained as a combined citation by those who think Matthew was careful, and as a mistake by those who do not. It does not change what happened to Judas's silver, but it is a case study in how the Gospel writers handled scripture.