Maarten J.J. Menken, «The Old Testament Quotation in Matthew 27,9-10: Textual Form and Context», Vol. 83 (2002) 305-328

The source of the fulfilment quotation in Matt 27,9-10 must be Zech 11,13, but the biblical text is distorted to a degree that is unparalleled in the other fulfilment quotations, and Matthew ascribes the quotation to Jeremiah. Another difficulty is that the quotation seems to have influenced the context to a much larger extent than in the case of the other fulfilment quotations. A careful analysis of the text shows that the peculiar textual form can be explained in a relatively simple way. The influence of the quotation on Matt 27,3-8 is limited, and is best ascribed to Matthew’s redaction. After all, this fulfilment quotation appears to be less exceptional than it is sometimes supposed to be.

could also be due to the evangelist⁵⁰, so that there is a serious possibility that Matthew was the one who here introduced the allusion to Zech 11,13. In his final text, Judas starts to enact the role of the prophet from Zechariah, and this role is taken over by the chief priests. They prolong, so to speak, the act of Judas⁵¹.

        Whoever assumes influence of the quotation on the words of the chief priests in Matt 27,6 (ou)k e!cestin balei=n au)ta_ ei)j to_n korbana=n, "it is not allowed to put them into the temple fund"), presupposes knowledge, on the part of Matthew or his tradition, of the reading rcw) in the Hebrew text of Zech 11,13, or of the interpretation of rcwy as rcw). In this view, Matthew would, so to speak, play off the two readings or interpretations against each other: the chief priests did not throw the money into the rcw), but they gave it to the rcwy⁵². Whether Matt 27,6b indeed presupposes this reading or interpretation, depends on the meaning of korbana=j: does the word indeed refer to the temple treasure? Josephus once speaks of the i(ero_j qhsauro/j, the "sacred treasure", which is called korbwna=j (J.W. 2.175); he actually means here the gifts and money given to the temple. He twice has the transliteration korba=n (korba/n) in the sense of dw=ron, "gift" (Ag. Ap. 1.167; Ant. 4.73). In the LXX, Nbrq is translated by dw=ron (see, e.g., Lev 1,2.3.10.14). Mark explains korba=n as dw=ron (7,11), and "gift" is also the meaning of Nbrq or )nbrq in rabbinic literature ⁵³. So it is preferable to consider korbana=j in Matt 27,6 as indicating not the