Matthew 27:6

And the chiefe Priests tooke the siluer pieces, and said, It is not lawfull for to put them into the treasurie, because it is the price of blood. Matthew 27:6 (KJV)

This verse belongs to Matthew’s account of the events that lead to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In the preceding narrative Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. After Jesus was arrested, Judas was seized by remorse, returned to the chief priests and elders, and tried to give back the money. Their reply was, “What is that to us? See thou to that.” Judas then cast the silver pieces down in the temple and went away to hang himself.

The chief priests collected the silver and declared it unlawful to place the money in the temple treasury because it was the “price of blood.” The phrase refers directly to the payment Judas received for betraying the innocent Messiah, whose blood would soon be shed on the cross. Viewing the money as tainted, the religious leaders chose not to use it for ordinary temple purposes. Instead, they used the returned silver to purchase the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers, an act that underscores their legalistic concern for the purity of the treasury while ignoring the deeper injustice they had participated in.

The incident also echoes the Old Testament prophecy of Zechariah 11:12‑13, where thirty pieces of silver are described as the price of a shepherd. Matthew presents this fulfillment to show that even the treacherous transaction was woven into God’s sovereign plan.

In summary, Matthew 27:6 records the chief priests’ refusal to admit the blood‑money into the treasury, their labeling of it as the “price of blood,” and their subsequent use of the funds to buy a burial field. The passage highlights the religious leaders’ misplaced priorities, their failure to recognize Jesus’ innocence, and the prophetic significance of the thirty pieces of silver within the redemptive narrative.