complete verse (Matthew 27:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 27:7:

  • Uma: “They reached a decision [lit., their commands became the same], that money was used to buy land that is called Land of the Pot Maker, so that that land could be used to bury people who weren’t Yahudi people.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “They planned/discussed/agreed that they would use that money to buy land from the people who make clay pots and make that into a graveyard for foreigners/strangers.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Therefore they discussed what they should do with it and there was land which was called the Land of the Potter, and they bought it with this money, so that it might be a burying place for people who are not Jews.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then they conversed as to where/how they could use the money, and they decided to use-it-to-buy the land of one who made pots in order that they would make-it-into a cemetery for strangers/visitors.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “They agreed to use it to buy the land of a worker in clay, for they would make it a burying-place for strangers/visitors.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “They talked it over, and decided that this money could buy a land called the Potter. They wanted that the land they bought would be a place to bury people who died and were not natives of there.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 27:7

Took counsel: see Matthew 27.1 and 12.14. Good News Translation expresses it well: “reaching an agreement.”

Potter’s field was the former name of the field purchased with the money received from Judas. A potter is someone who makes pots from clay. Whether it was the field of the potter or of a potter is not clear (verse 10 has “the potter”), and translators can use either “the field of a potter” or “… the potter.” They can also have “the field called Potter’s Field.”

The field would be used to bury strangers in. This may be expressed in a separate sentence, such as “It can be used as a burial ground for foreigners.” Concerning the purchase, one scholar comments: “The unclean money is used for an unclean purpose, the purchase of a cemetery for foreigners, presumably Gentiles.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .