home | what's new | other sites | contact | about

Word Gems 

exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity

When Matthew quotes the Old
Testament, he mistakenly cites
Jeremiah for Zechariah.

return to the main-page article on "Bible"

Preview and Summary: The gospel-writer doesn't know which book in the Old Testament he's quoting. And since God purportedly has inspired every word of scripture, it seems that Divinity's mind wandered for a moment.

The writer of the gospel known as "Matthew" is ignorant of the literature concerning which he professes to be an expert. He doesn't know that he has botched one of his quotes:

• Matthew 27: 9: "This fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah that says, They took the thirty pieces of silver - the price at which he was valued by the people of Israel" (New Living Translation)

But the "thirty pieces of silver" is mentioned in Zechariah, not Jeremiah!

• Zechariah 11: 12: "So they counted out for my wages thirty pieces of silver." (New Living Translation)

Those intent upon maintaining an illusion of Biblical perfection, scramble to offer this as explanation:

Matthew asserts what "Jeremiah ... says"; - that is, we are asked to believe that Matthew is reporting something that Jeremiah spoke, verbally professed, but did not write down!

We are assured by church-politicians that Matthew knows what Jeremiah said, but did not write down, many hundreds of years before Matthew was born.