Will God be sold for 30 pieces of silver?

Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,

saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!”

Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.

But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.”

And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.

Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

“And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced, and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”

-- Matthew 27:3-10 (NKJV)

(However, this prophecy is missing in our version of the book of Jeremiah.)

Zechariah's version

Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.

And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.

And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.

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: a goodly price that I was prised at of them.

And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.

Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

-- Zechariah 11:4-17 (KJV)

The reasoning is that if the LORD said

1. He will be priced "thirty pieces of silver", and
2. the price money was cast to "the potter" in the house of the LORD

and

1. Jesus was also priced "thirty pieces of silver", and
2. the price money was cast into the temple, which the chief priests used to buy the potter's field

... then these events align and it is considered a "fulfillment" as Matthew stated, which means Jesus is the LORD (YHVH) who is the Almighty God.

There are a few problems with this prophecy:

1. Zechariah is not Jeremiah.
2. Zechariah says the "worthless shepherd" would be struck with a sword in his arm and in his right eye. Judas hanged himself. Nobody struck Judas.
3. Zechariah refers to the one being priced in first person, but Matthew's quote refers to the one being priced in the third person which changes the meaning that it was not the LORD Himself that was priced.

Possible explanations for the discrepancies:

• Matthew got confused between Jeremiah 18:1-6 (which mentions a Potter), Jeremiah 32 (which mentions a field being purchased) and Zechariah 11 (which mentions the 30 pieces of silver): This place the credibility of the rest of the book of Matthew in question.
• Perhaps Zechariah quoted or copied Jeremiah's prophecy which got lost: This place the credibility of the book of Jeremiah in question.
• Perhaps "Jeremiah" was a special collection of prophecies that happen to include Zechariah too.

If we assume Matthew did quote Zechariah 11 for whatever the reason is, there are even more discrepancies:

In the KJV version of Zechariah, it seems like it is the LORD speaking from start to end. However, at the end the LORD requested Zechariah:

The LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. -- Zechariah 11:15 (KJV)

Which means Zechariah had done this before. But this does not make sense in the King James Version (KJV), because the LORD said and did everything and not Zechariah. However, when we compare it with other translation, then the LORD requested Zechariah to become a shepherd and live out the prophetic act literally so that the prophecy is clear:

Thus said the LORD my God: “Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land”, declares the LORD. “Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”

So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep. In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me.

So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.”

And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD.

Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.”

And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver.

Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter” — the lordly price at which I was priced by them.

*So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the Potter**.

Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

Then the LORD said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

“Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!”

-- Zechariah 11:4-17 (ESV)

In this case:

1. The LORD instructed Zechariah to become a shepherd (prophetic act) (Zechariah 11:7).
2. Then Zechariah became impatient with the three shepherd (probably his employees attending to his flock) (Zechariah 11:8).
3. Then Zechariah quit being a shepherd (Zechariah 11:9).
4. Then Zechariah break the covenant (probably the shepherd contract) (Zechariah 11:10).
5. The sheep traders who watched Zechariah understood it was a word of the LORD (prophecy) (Zechariah 11:11).
6. Then Zechariah ask for his final wage (Zechariah 11:12).
7. "And they weighed out as my (Zechariah's) wages thirty pieces of silver." (Zechariah 11:12)

Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter” — the lordly price (Exodus 21:32) at which I (Zechariah) was priced by them.

So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the Potter.

-- Zechariah 11:13 (ESV)

In the context of Zechariah's prophecy, the shepherd is Zechariah himself, because the LORD was addressing Zechariah directly. The "the lordly price at which I was priced by them" is a comment that Zechariah add to highlight his disgust of only being offered what a slave is worth.

What is the Potter doing in the house of the LORD?

It might be a reference to Isaiah 45:9-13 and Jeremiah 18:1-6 which state that the prophetic Potter is the LORD:

“Woe to him who strives with Him Who formed him, a pot among earthen pots!
Does the clay say to Him Who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?
Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”

Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:
“Ask me of things to come; will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands?
I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward,” says the LORD of hosts.

-- Isaiah 45:9-13 (ESV)

Although Zechariah might mean something totally different from what really happened at the time of Judas Iscariot, Matthew tend to quote prophecies that was already fulfilled and apply it to Jesus, for example:

• Matthew 1:23 mentions a prophecy of a boy, named Immanuel, which already lived in Isaiah's time (Isaiah 7:14) and apply that to Jesus.
• Matthew 2:14-15 quotes Hosea 11:1, but Hosea state that God's son had "sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to carved images".

Possible reasons for this is:

• Matthew was a tax collector and might not have access to the original prophecies and made a few errors (which challenge the credibility of the book of Matthew), or
• according to Matthew these are double fulfillments (history repeating itself) and perhaps these repeating patterns impressed Matthew.

Psalms

Peter quoted a different prophecy regarding Judas:

In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”

(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

“For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

“‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; (Psalm 69:25)

and

‘Let another take his office.’” (Psalm 109:8)

-- Acts 1:15-20 (ESV)

These Psalms are:

Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.
May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.
For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

-- Psalm 69:24-28 (ESV)

and

When he is tried, let him come forth guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin!
May his days be few; may another take his office!

-- Psalm 109:7-8 (ESV)

Both Psalm 69 and Psalm 109 refers to David and not Jesus. Peter was most likely only applying the principles of these Psalms to their current circumstances to validate his decision to appoint someone else in the office of Judas Iscariot.

Will God be pierced in His flesh?

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. -- Zechariah 12:10 (NIV)

As the NIV is translated it seems that the LORD God will have physical flesh that would be pierced. We know this happened to Jesus, therefore some use this as evidence that Jesus is the LORD God.

First of all, there are problems with the transmission of the Hebrew text such that the original meaning is not clear. Thus there are versions such as the NIV above that make the sentence refer back to God and these versions usually supply the word “me” or some equivalent. -- Spirit & Truth Fellowship International

Compare the same scripture with another Bible translation:

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication, so that, when they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a first-born. -- Zechariah 12:10 (RSV)

So which translation is correct?

Translators and commentators who believe that the word “pierced” should refer back to the pronoun “him” cite textual variants that more clearly read “him,” as well as the flow of the sentence which continues with the word “him” in the phrase “they shall mourn for him” and “grieve bitterly for him.” The Jewish understanding of this verse has always been that the one pierced was one in an intimate relationship with God, but there is no record of any early Jewish commentator understanding Zechariah 12:10 to be saying that somehow Yahweh Himself would come into the flesh and be pierced in the literal sense of the word. -- Spirit & Truth Fellowship International

John quotes this scripture:

And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on him whom they pierced.” -- John 19:37 (NKJV)

According to John "him" is the correct translation which means someone else other than God Himself would be pierced.