AKELDAMA (̓Ακελδαμάχ) occurs only once in the NT, in Acts 1:19. It is the Aram. name (חקלדמא) given by the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the place where Judas died. The Aram. term means “field of blood” (χωρίον αἵματος), as explained in Acts 1:19. In the other account of the death of Judas (Matt 27:3-10), only the Gr. name is given: Field of Blood (ἁγρὸ̀ς αἵματος). The two traditions in the NT regarding the death of Judas agree basically on the name of the site. The content and structure of the account of the death of Judas in Acts 1:18f., suggest that it is an insertion by the author into the speech of Peter and hence should be punctuated independently.

The Matthean account contains a few additional topographical details. The area previously was known as the “potter’s field” (ἀγροστου κεράμεως) and was purchased by the chief priests as a burial place for strangers (Matt 27:7). Matthew further indicates that this purchase was the fulfillment of a prophetic oracle: “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me” (27:9, 10). Matthew ascribes these words to the prophet Jeremiah. No direct identification with a passage in Jeremiah is possible, although allusions to Jeremiah 18:2-12; 19:1-15; and 32:6-10 have been suggested. However, the major part of the quotation is found in Zechariah 11:13 LXX. R. Gundry suggests that Matthew saw fulfilled in this one event two separate prophecies, one typical (Jer 19:1-13) and one explicit (Zech 11:13) and he cites only one author in the composite allusion—not an uncommon practice (The Use of the Old Testament in St. Matthew’s Gospel [1967], 124f.). Apparently the mention of the amount and name in these OT passages led Matthew to associate them with the “Field of Blood” and thus to conflate them and attribute them to Jeremiah. Gundry also lists ten other views on the ascription to Jeremiah (ibid., 125f. footnote 3).

Tradition has located the “Field of Blood” S of Jerusalem in the Valley of Hinnom W of its junction with the Valley of the Kidron. Today there are some 1st-cent. tombs found in this area. The soil contains a kind of clay which is suitable for use in the manufacture of pottery and the area could be designated as the “Potter’s Field.”