Thirty Pieces of Silver
The shepherd-king valued at thirty silver pieces — the price of a slave — thrown to the potter.
The Prophecy
Zechariah 11:12-13
~520 BCE
I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter" — the handsome price at which they valued me!
Manuscript Attestation
Dead Sea Scrolls Zechariah fragments; all codices.
Ancient Jewish Interpretation
Bereshit Rabbah 98 connects this with messianic themes.
The Fulfillment
Matthew 26:15; Matthew 27:3-10
They counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:15) So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests picked up the coins... they used them to buy the potter's field. (Matthew 27:5-7)
Narrative Context
Judas was paid exactly thirty pieces of silver to betray Jesus. When he returned the money in remorse, the priests used it to buy a potter's field — matching Zechariah's imagery of the money being thrown "to the potter."
The Evidence
Thirty pieces of silver was the price of a slave under Mosaic law (Exodus 21:32), making it a deliberately contemptuous valuation. Zechariah manuscripts from the Dead Sea Scrolls confirm the text. The "potter's field" (Akeldama) in Jerusalem has been identified since antiquity and is documented by early Christian pilgrims.