Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!samsung!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: daved@westford.ccur.com (508-392-2990) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Question about Matthew and Jeremiah Message-ID: Date: 6 Aug 90 00:54:58 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 31 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu What do folks make of the fact that Matthew 27:10 attributes to Jeremiah something not in OT canon? The context is Judas hanging himself, and the 'chief priests' decision to purchase a field with the money he had thrown back at them. I came across this last week while reading a book by Irenaeus (d. 202 or so); he and Justin Martyr suggest that the passages were taken out of the text of Jeremiah by 1st century Jews, as part of anti-Christian efforts. This suggestion sounds ridiculous to my ears. The notes in my NAB suggest that the text echoes Jeremiah's figures of a potter and the potter's flask, and also some passages from Zacariah (whom Matthew does not here mention) concerning thirty pieces of silver. But calling this a "free translation" (as the notes do) seems overly generous. One doesn't immediately have to say: "Matthew got it wrong." But, from what I've seen so far, I can't rule this out. Dave Davis [In the NRSV, there's a footnote on this passage saying 'Other ancient authorities read "Zechariah" or "Isaiah"'. The suggestion that the passage was removed from Jer. by Jews sounds, shall we say, ad hoc. You'd have to assume that the removers managed to get to all copies of both the Hebrew original and the translations, including those in Christian hands. This may not completely solve the problem, but remember that NT Greek doesn't have quotation marks. --clh]