Matthew 27:2-14

2They tied Jesus' hands and feet and then they took him to Pilate's house. They put him under the authority of Pilate, who was the Roman ruler.

3Judas heard that the Jewish leaders wanted the Roman rulers to kill Jesus. Judas was the man who had helped Jesus' enemies to take hold of him. Now he was very sorry about what he had done. So he took back the 30 silver coins to the leaders of the priests and the important Jews.

4He said to them, ‘I have done the wrong thing. I helped you to take hold of a man who has done nothing wrong.’ They said to Judas, ‘That is not important to us. That is your problem.’

5So Judas took the money and he threw it down on the floor in the temple. Then he went away. He hung himself from a rope so that he died.

6The leaders of the priests picked up the coins. They said, ‘We used this money to catch and kill a man. So it is against our Law to use this same money for the temple.’

7They decided to use the money to buy a field. They wanted to use the field to bury foreign people who died in the city. The field had been called ‘The Pot-maker's Field’.

8After this, it was called ‘The Field of Blood’. It is still called that even today.

9So the words that the prophet Jeremiah wrote long ago now became true. He had said, ‘Then they took the 30 silver coins. It was the amount of money the people of Israel had agreed to pay for the man.

10They used this money to buy the pot-maker's field. The Lord God had told me to do this.’

11Now Jesus stood in front of the Roman ruler, Pilate. The ruler asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Jesus replied, ‘You have said it.’

12The leaders of the priests and the important Jews spoke against Jesus. They said that he had done many bad things. Jesus did not answer them.

13So Pilate said to Jesus, ‘You hear what these men are saying against you. You should reply.’

14But Jesus did not reply to what the men were saying against him, not even to one thing. Pilate was very surprised about this.