Editing Judas Iscariot (section)

==Life==

===Name and background=== 
[[File:Brooklyn Museum - Judas Iscariot (Judas Iscariote) - James Tissot (cropped).jpg|thumb|''Judas Iscariot'' (between 1886 and 1894) by [[James Tissot]]]]

The name "Judas" ({{lang|grc|Ὶούδας}}) is a [[Koine Greek|Greek]] rendering of the Hebrew name [[Judah (given name)|Judah]] ({{lang|he|יהודה}}, {{transliteration|he|Y<sup>e</sup>hûdâh}}, Hebrew for "praise or praised"), which was an extremely common name for Jewish men during the first century AD, due to the renowned hero [[Judas Maccabeus]].{{sfn|Gubar|2009|page=31}}{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}} Consequently, numerous other figures with this name are mentioned throughout the New Testament.<ref name="Oropeza"/>{{sfn|Gubar|2009|page=31}}{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}} In the Gospel of Mark {{bibleverse-nb||Mark|3:13–19|9}}, which was written in the mid-60s or early 70s AD, Judas Iscariot is the only apostle named "Judas".{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}} {{bibleverse||Matthew|10:2–4|9}} shares this portrayal.{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}} The [[Gospel of Luke]] {{bibleverse-nb||Luke|6:12–19|9}}, however, replaces the apostle whom Mark and Matthew call "[[Jude the Apostle|Thaddeus]]" with "Judas son of James".{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}} [[Peter Stanford]] suggests that this renaming may represent an effort by the author of the Gospel of Luke to create a "good Judas" in contrast to the betrayer Judas Iscariot.{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}}

Judas's [[epithet]] "Iscariot" ({{lang|grc|Ὶσκάριωθ}} or {{lang|grc|Ὶσκαριώτης}}), which distinguishes him from the other people named "Judas" in the gospels, is usually thought to be a Greek rendering of the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] phrase {{lang|he|איש־קריות}}, ({{transliteration|he|Îš-Qrîyôt}}), meaning "the man from [[Kerioth]]".{{sfn|Gubar|2009|page=31}}{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Bauckham |title=Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company]] |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |date=2006 |isbn=978-0802874313 |page=106}}</ref><ref>[https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9033-judas-iscariot Jewish Encyclopedia Judas Iscariot]</ref> This interpretation is supported by the statement in the [[Gospel of John]] {{bibleverse-nb||John|6:71|9}} that Judas was "the son of Simon Iscariot".{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}} Nonetheless, this interpretation of the name is not fully accepted by all scholars.{{sfn|Gubar|2009|page=31}}{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}} One of the most popular alternative explanations holds that "Iscariot" ({{lang|arc|ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ}}, {{transliteration|arc|'Skaryota'}} in Syriac Aramaic, per the [[Peshitta]] text) may be a corruption of the Latin word {{lang|la|sicarius}}, meaning "dagger man",{{sfn|Gubar|2009|page=31}}{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Bastiaan |last=van Iersel |title=Mark: A Reader-Response Commentary |publisher=Continuum International |location=Danbury, Connecticut |date=1998 |isbn=978-1850758297 |page=167}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Andrew Gabriel-Yizkhak |last=Roth bar Raphael |title=Aramaic English New Testament |publisher=Netzari Press |edition=5 |isbn=978-1934916421}}; Sedro-Woolley, Wash.: Netzari Press, 2012), 278fn177.</ref> which referred to a member of the [[Sicarii]] ({{lang|arc|סיקריים}} in Aramaic), a group of Jewish rebels who were known for assassinating people in crowds using long knives hidden under their cloaks.{{sfn|Gubar|2009|page=31}}{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}} This interpretation is problematic, however, because there is nothing in the gospels to associate Judas with the Sicarii,{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}} and there is no evidence that the cadre existed during the 30s AD when Judas was alive.<ref>Brown, Raymond E. (1994). ''The Death of the Messiah: From Gethsemane to the Grave: A Commentary on the Passion Narratives in the Four Gospels v.1 ''pp. 688–92. New York: Doubleday/The Anchor Bible Reference Library. {{ISBN|0-385-49448-3}}; Meier, John P. ''[[A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus]]'' (2001). v. 3, p. 210. New York: Doubleday/The Anchor Bible Reference Library. {{ISBN|0-385-46993-4}}.</ref>{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}}

A possibility advanced by [[Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg]] is that "Iscariot" means "the liar" or "the false one", from the Hebrew {{lang|he|איש-שקרים}}. [[C. C. Torrey]] suggests instead the [[Aramaic]] form {{lang|arc|שְׁקַרְיָא}} or {{lang|arc|אִשְׁקַרְיָא}}, with the same meaning.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Torrey |first=Charles C. |date=1943 |title=The Name "Iscariot" |journal=The Harvard Theological Review |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=51–62 |doi=10.1017/S0017816000029084 |jstor=1507970 |s2cid=162707224 |issn=0017-8160}}</ref><ref name="Iskarioth">{{cite journal |first=Joan E. |last=Taylor |title=The name 'Iskarioth' (Iscariot) |journal=[[Journal of Biblical Literature]] |volume=129 |number=2 |pages=367–83 |doi=10.2307/27821024 |jstor=27821024 |year=2010}}</ref> Stanford rejects this, arguing that the gospel writers follow Judas's name with the statement that he betrayed Jesus, so it would be redundant for them to call him "the false one" before immediately stating that he was a traitor.{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}} Some have proposed that the word derives from an Aramaic word meaning "red color", from the root {{lang|arc|סקר}}.<ref>{{cite web |first=Katie |last=Edwards |url=http://theconversation.com/why-judas-was-actually-more-of-a-saint-than-a-sinner-56689 |title=Why Judas was actually more of a saint, than a sinner |magazine=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]] |publisher=The Conversation Trust |location=Melbourne, Australia |date=23 March 2016 |access-date=28 July 2018}}</ref> Another hypothesis holds that the word derives from one of the Aramaic roots {{lang|arc|סכר}} or {{lang|arc|סגר}}. This would mean "to deliver", based on the [[Septuagint]] rendering of Isaiah 19:4—a theory advanced by J. Alfred Morin.<ref name="Iskarioth"/> The epithet could also be associated with the manner of Judas's death, hanging. This would mean Iscariot derives from a kind of Greek-Aramaic hybrid: {{lang|arc|אִסְכַּרְיוּתָא}}, {{transliteration|arc|Iskarioutha}}, meaning "chokiness" or "constriction". This might indicate that the epithet was applied posthumously by the remaining disciples, but Joan E. Taylor has argued that it was a descriptive name given to Judas by Jesus, since other disciples such as [[Saint Peter|Simon Peter]]/Cephas (''Kephas'' "rock") were also given such names.<ref name="Iskarioth"/>

===Role as an apostle===
[[File:Ghirlandaio, Domenico - Calling of the Apostles - 1481.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|''Calling of the Apostles'' (1481) by [[Domenico Ghirlandaio]]]]

Although the canonical gospels frequently disagree on the names of some of the minor apostles,{{sfn|Gubar|2009|page=30}} all four of them list Judas Iscariot as one of them.{{sfn|Gubar|2009|page=30}}{{sfn|Stanford|2015|page=}} The [[Synoptic Gospels]] state that Jesus sent out "the twelve" (including Judas) with power over unclean spirits and with a ministry of preaching and healing: Judas clearly played an active part in this apostolic ministry alongside the other eleven.<ref>See Mark 6:6; Matthew 10:5–10; and Luke 9:1</ref> However, in the Gospel of John, Judas's outlook was differentiated—many of Jesus's disciples abandoned him because of the difficulty of accepting his teachings, and Jesus asked the twelve if they would also leave him. Simon Peter spoke for the twelve: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life," but Jesus observed then that although he himself had chosen the twelve, one of them (unnamed by Jesus, but identified by the narrator) was "a devil" who would betray him.<ref>John 6:67–71</ref>

One of the best-attested and most reliable statements made by Jesus in the gospels comes from the [[Gospel of Matthew]] {{bibleverse-nb||Matthew|19:28|9}}, in which Jesus tells his apostles: "in [[Kingdom of God|the new world]], when the [[Son of Man]] shall sit on his glorious throne, you will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the [[Twelve Tribes of Israel]]."{{sfn|Gubar|2009|page=30}} New Testament scholar [[Bart D. Ehrman]] concludes, "This is not a tradition that was likely to have been made up by a Christian later, after Jesus's death—since one of these twelve had abandoned his cause and betrayed him. No one thought that ''Judas Iscariot'' would be seated on a glorious throne in the Kingdom of God. That saying, therefore appears to go back to Jesus, and indicates, then, that he had twelve close disciples, whom he predicted would reign in the coming Kingdom."{{sfn|Gubar|2009|page=30}}

[[File:6852 les deniers de judas.JPG|thumb|upright|left|A 16th century fresco depicting Judas being paid the 30 pieces of silver]]
Matthew directly states that Judas betrayed Jesus for a bribe of "[[thirty pieces of silver]]"<ref>These "pieces of silver" were most likely intended to be understood as silver [[Shekel of Tyre|Tyrian shekels]].</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Matthew|26:14|131}}</ref> by identifying him with a kiss—"the [[kiss of Judas]]"—to arresting soldiers of the High Priest [[Caiaphas]], who then turned Jesus over to [[Pontius Pilate]]'s soldiers. Mark's Gospel states that the chief priests were looking for a way to [[Arrest of Jesus|arrest Jesus]]. They decided not to do so during the feast [of the [[Passover]]], since they were afraid that people would riot;<ref>Mark 14:1–2</ref> instead, they chose the night before the feast to arrest him. According to Luke's account, [[demonic possession|Satan entered]] Judas at this time.<ref name="Luke">
{{cite web
|url         = http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2022:3&version=31
|title       = BibleGateway.com&nbsp;– Passage Lookup: Luke 22:3
|publisher   = [[BibleGateway]]
|access-date  = 21 June 2008
|url-status     = live
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090115192359/http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2022:3&version=31
|archive-date = 2009-01-15
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</ref>

According to the account in the Gospel of John, Judas carried the disciples' money bag or box ({{lang|grc|γλωσσόκομον}}, {{transliteration|grc|glōssokomon}}),<ref>{{bibleverse||John|12:6|131}}and{{bibleverse||John|13:29|131}}</ref> but the Gospel of John makes no mention of the thirty pieces of silver as a fee for betrayal. The [[John the Evangelist|evangelist]] comments in John 12:5–6 that Judas spoke fine words about giving money to the poor, but the reality was "not that he cared for the poor, but [that] he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it." However, in John 13:27–30, when Judas left the gathering of Jesus and his disciples with betrayal in mind,<ref>John 13:2, [[Jerusalem Bible]] translation</ref> some [of the disciples] thought that Judas might have been leaving to buy supplies or on a charitable errand.

Ehrman argues that Judas's betrayal "is about as historically certain as anything else in the tradition",{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|pages=216–17}}{{sfn|Gubar|2009|page=31}} pointing out that the betrayal is independently attested in the Gospel of Mark, in the Gospel of John, and in the Book of Acts.{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|pages=216–17}}{{sfn|Gubar|2009|page=31}} Ehrman also contends that it is highly unlikely that early Christians would have made up the story of Judas's betrayal, since it reflects poorly on Jesus's judgment in choosing him as an apostle.{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|pages=216–17}}{{sfn|Gubar|2009|pages=31–32}} Nonetheless, Ehrman argues that what Judas actually told the authorities was not Jesus's location, but rather Jesus's secret teaching that he was the Messiah.{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|pages=216–17}} This, he holds, explains why the authorities did not try to arrest Jesus prior to Judas's betrayal.{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|pages=216–17}} [[John P. Meier]] sums up the historical consensus, stating, "We only know two basic facts about [Judas]: (1) Jesus chose him as one of the Twelve, and (2) he handed over Jesus to the Jerusalem authorities, thus precipitating Jesus's execution."{{sfn|Gubar|2009|page=33}}

===Death===
[[File:Judas Iscariot from Tarzhishte Monastery.jpg|thumb|16th-century fresco from Tarzhishte Monastery, Strupets, Bulgaria, showing Judas hanging himself as described in {{bibleverse||Matthew|27:1–10|9}}]]

Many different accounts of Judas's death have survived from antiquity, both within and outside the New Testament.{{sfn|Ehrman|2016|pages=28–29}}{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|pages=16–17}} {{bibleverse||Matthew|27:1–10|9}} states that after learning that Jesus [[crucifixion of Jesus|was to be crucified]], Judas was overcome by remorse and attempted to return the 30 pieces of silver to the priests, but they would not accept them because they were blood money, so he threw them on the ground and left. Afterwards, he committed suicide by hanging himself{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=16}} in accordance with Mosaic law ({{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|21:22–23}}<ref name="Smith2016">{{cite book |first=Barry D. |last=Smith |title=The Meaning of Jesus' Death: Reviewing the New Testament's Interpretations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ww8eDQAAQBAJ |publisher=[[T&T Clark]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-0567670694 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ww8eDQAAQBAJ 93]}}</ref>). The priests then used the money to buy a [[potter's field]], which became known as [[Akeldama]] (חקל דמא – ''khakel dama'') – the Field of Blood – because it had been bought with blood money.{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=16}} {{bibleverse||Acts|1:18|9}} states that Judas used the money to buy a field,{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=16}}<ref name="Ehrman2008">{{cite book |first=Bart D. |last=Ehrman |title=The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed |url=https://archive.org/details/lostgospelofjuda00ehrm |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxfordshire, England |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-534351-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lostgospelofjuda00ehrm/page/147 147]}}</ref> and "[fell] headlong... burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=16}} In this account, Judas's death is apparently by accident,{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=16}} and he shows no signs of remorse.{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=16}}

The early [[Church Fathers|Church Father]] [[Papias of Hierapolis]] records in his ''Expositions of the Sayings of the Lord'' (which was probably written around 100 AD) that Judas was afflicted by God's wrath;{{sfn|Ehrman|2016|page=29}}{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=17}} his body became so enormously bloated that he could not pass through a street with buildings on either side.{{sfn|Ehrman|2016|page=29}}{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=17}} His face became so swollen that a doctor could not even identify the location of his eyes using an optical instrument.{{sfn|Ehrman|2016|page=29}} Judas's genitals became enormously swollen and oozed with [[pus]] and worms.{{sfn|Ehrman|2016|page=29}} Finally, he killed himself on his own land by pouring out his innards onto the ground,{{sfn|Ehrman|2016|page=29}}{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=17}} which stank so horribly that, even in Papias's own time a century later, people still could not pass the site without holding their noses.{{sfn|Ehrman|2016|page=29}}{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=17}} This story was well known among Christians in antiquity{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=17}} and was often told in competition with the two conflicting stories from the New Testament.{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=17}}

According to the apocryphal [[Gospel of Nicodemus]], which was probably written in the fourth century AD, Judas was overcome with remorse{{sfn|Ehrman|2016|page=28}} and went home to tell his wife, who was roasting a chicken on a spit over a charcoal fire, that he was going to kill himself, because he knew Jesus would rise from the dead and, when he did, he would punish him.{{sfn|Ehrman|2016|page=28}} Judas's wife laughed and told him that Jesus could no more rise from the dead than he could resurrect the chicken she was cooking.{{sfn|Ehrman|2016|pages=28–29}} Immediately, the chicken was restored to life and began to crow.{{sfn|Ehrman|2016|page=29}} Judas then ran away and hanged himself.{{sfn|Ehrman|2016|page=29}} In the apocryphal [[Gospel of Judas]], Judas has a vision of the disciples stoning and persecuting him.<ref>[http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/pdf/GospelofJudas.pdf Gospel of Judas 44–45] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911005041/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/pdf/GospelofJudas.pdf |date=11 September 2011}}</ref>

The discrepancy between the two different accounts of Judas's death in {{bibleverse||Matthew|27:1–10|9}} and {{bibleverse||Acts|1:18|9}} has proven to be a serious challenge to those who support the idea of [[Biblical inerrancy]].{{sfn|Ehrman|2016|page=28}}{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=17}} This problem was one of the points leading [[C. S. Lewis]], for example, to reject the view "that every statement in Scripture must be historical truth".<ref>Letter to Clyde S. Kilby, 7 May 1959, quoted in Michael J. Christensen, ''C. S. Lewis on Scripture'', Abingdon, 1979, Appendix A.</ref> Nonetheless, various attempts at [[Gospel harmony|harmonization]] have been suggested.{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=17}} Generally they have followed literal interpretations such as that of [[Augustine of Hippo]], which suggest that these simply describe different aspects of the same event—that Judas hanged himself in the field, and the rope eventually snapped and the fall burst his body open,<ref name="Arie W. Zwiep page 109">{{harvnb|Zwiep|2004|page=109}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.christnotes.org/dictionary.php?dict=ebd&q=Judas |title=Easton's Bible Dictionary: Judas |publisher=christnotes.org |access-date=2007-06-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001538/http://www.christnotes.org/dictionary.php?dict=ebd&q=Judas |archive-date=2007-09-27}}</ref> or that the accounts of Acts and Matthew refer to two different transactions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.levendwater.org/companion/append161.html |title=The purchase of "the potter's field," Appendix 161 of the Companion Bible |access-date=2008-02-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080429193049/http://www.levendwater.org/companion/append161.html |archive-date=2008-04-29}}</ref> Some have taken the descriptions as figurative: that the "falling prostrate" was Judas in anguish,{{efn|''The Monthly Christian Spectator'' 1851–1859 p. 459 "while some writers regard the account of Judas's death as simply figurative ..seized with preternatural anguish for his crime and its consequences his bowels gushed out."}} and the "bursting out of the bowels" is pouring out emotion.{{efn|Clarence Jordan ''The Substance of Faith: and Other Cotton Patch Sermons'' p. 148 "Greeks thought of the bowels as being the seat of the emotions, the home of the soul. It's like saying that all of Judas's motions burst out, burst asunder."}}

Modern scholars reject these approaches.<ref>Raymond E. Brown, ''An Introduction to the New Testament'', p. 114.</ref><ref>Charles Talbert, ''Reading Acts: A Literary and Theological Commentary'', Smyth & Helwys (2005) p. 15.</ref><ref>Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary, Eerdmans (2004), p. 703.</ref> Arie W. Zwiep states "neither story was meant to be read in light of the other"{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=17}} and "the integrity of both stories as complete narratives in themselves is seriously disrespected when the two separate stories are being conflated into a third, harmonized version."{{sfn|Zwiep|2004|page=17}} David A. Reed argues that the Matthew account is a [[midrash]]ic exposition that allows the author to present the event as a fulfillment of prophetic passages from the Old Testament. They argue that the author adds imaginative details such as the thirty pieces of silver, and the fact that Judas hangs himself, to an earlier tradition about Judas's death.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://academic.shu.edu/btb/vol35/06Reed.pdf |title='Saving Judas': A Social Scientific Approach to Judas' Suicide in Matthew 27:3–10 |author=Reed, David A. |journal=Biblical Theology Bulletin |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=51–59 |year=2005 |access-date=2007-06-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629151614/http://academic.shu.edu/btb/vol35/06Reed.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=2007-06-29 |doi=10.1177/01461079050350020301 |s2cid=144391749}}</ref>

Matthew's description of the death as fulfilment of a prophecy "spoken through Jeremiah the prophet" has caused difficulties, since it does not clearly correspond to any known version of the [[Book of Jeremiah]] but does appear to refer to a story from the [[Book of Zechariah]]<ref>{{Bibleref2|Zechariah|11:12–13|NASB|Zechariah 11:12–13}}</ref> which describes the return of a payment of thirty pieces of silver.<ref>Vincent P. Branick, ''Understanding the New Testament and Its Message'', (Paulist Press, 1998), pp. 126–28.</ref> Even writers such as [[Jerome]] and [[John Calvin]] conclude that this was obviously an error.{{efn|Frederick Dale Bruner, ''Matthew: A Commentary'' (Eerdmans, 2004), p. 710; Jerome, ''Epistolae'' 57.7: "This passage is not found in Jeremiah but in Zechariah, in quite different words and a different order" {{cite web |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf206.v.LVII.html |title=NPNF2-06. Jerome: The Principal Works of St. Jerome – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |access-date=2008-09-05 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008040849/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf206.v.LVII.html |archive-date=2008-10-08}}; John Calvin, ''Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke'', 3:177: "The passage itself plainly shows that the name of Jeremiah has been put down by mistake, instead of Zechariah, for in Jeremiah we find nothing of this sort, nor any thing that even approaches to it." {{cite web |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom33.ii.xxxvi.html |title=Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke – Volume 3 – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |access-date=2010-03-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091125155331/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom33.ii.xxxvi.html |archive-date=2009-11-25}}.}} Evangelical theologian James R. White has suggested the misattribution arises from a supposed Jewish practice of using the name of a [[major prophet]] to refer to the whole content of the scroll group, including books written by minor prophets placed in the same grouping.<ref>James R. White, ''The King James Only Controversy'', Bethany House Publishers (2009) pp. 213–15, 316.</ref>

Some scholars have suggested that the writer may also have had a passage from Jeremiah in mind,<ref>Donald Senior, ''The Passion of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew'' (Liturgical Press, 1985), pp. 107–08; Anthony Cane, ''The Place of Judas Iscariot in Christology'' (Ashgate Publishing, 2005), p. 50.</ref> such as chapters {{bibleref2|Jeremiah|18:1–4|NASB|18:1–4}} and {{bibleref2|Jeremiah|19:1–13|NASB|19:1–13}} which refer to a potter's jar and a burial place, and chapter {{bibleref2|Jeremiah|32:6–15|NASB|32:6–15}} which refers to a burial place and an earthenware jar.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Maarten JJ |last=Menken |url=http://www.bsw.org/project/biblica/bibl83/Comm10.html |title=The Old Testament Quotation in Matthew 27,9–10' |journal=[[Biblica (journal)|Biblica]] |issue=83 |date=2002 |pages=9–10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220115126/http://www.bsw.org/project/biblica/bibl83/Comm10.html |archive-date=20 December 2008}}</ref> [[Raymond E. Brown|Raymond Brown]] suggests "the most plausible [explanation] is that Matthew 27:9–10 is presenting a mixed citation with words taken both from Zechariah and Jeremiah, and ... he refers to that combination by one name. Jeremiah 18–9 concerns a potter (18:2–; 19:1), a purchase (19:1), the Valley of Hinnom (where the Field of Blood is traditionally located, 19:2), 'innocent blood' (19:4), and the renaming of a place for burial (19:6, 11); and Jer 32:6–5 tells of the purchase of a field with silver."<ref name="Brown, The Death of the Messiah">{{cite book |first=Raymond |last=Brown |title=The Death of the Messiah, From Gethsemane to the Grave, Volume 1: A Commentary on the Passion Narratives in the Four Gospels |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |location=New Haven, Connecticut |year=1998 |isbn=978-0300140095 |page=912}}</ref>

Classicist [[Glenn W. Most]] suggests that Judas's death in Acts can be interpreted figuratively, writing that πρηνὴς γενόμενος should be translated as saying his body went prone, rather than falling headlong, and the spilling of the entrails is meant to invoke the imagery of dead snakes and their burst-open bellies. Hence Luke was stating that Judas took the body posture of a snake and died like one.<ref>{{cite book |author=Most, Glenn W. |year=2008 |contribution=The Judas of the Gospels and the ''Gospel of Judas'' |editor=Scopello, Madeleine |editor-link=Madeleine Scopello |title=The Gospel of Judas in Context: Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Gospel of Judas |publisher=Brill |pages=75–77 |isbn=978-9004167216}}</ref> However, the Catholic biblical scholar [[John L. McKenzie]] states "This passage probably echoes the fate of the wicked in..." the [[Deuterocanonical books|Deuterocanonical book]] ''Wisdom of Solomon'' 4:19:<ref>{{cite book |last1=McKenzie |first1=John |title=Dictionary of the Bible |date=1966 |publisher=Macmillan Publishing Co. |page=463}}</ref>  "... [the Lord] will dash them speechless to the ground, and shake them from the foundations; they will be left utterly dry and barren, and they will suffer anguish, and the memory of them will perish."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Apochrypha of the Old Testament |date=1977 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=106}}</ref>