Judas, who had handed him over, saw that Jesus had been sentenced to die. He felt deep shame and sadness for what he had done. So he returned the 30 silver coins to the chief priests and the elders.“ I have sinned,” he said.“ I handed over a man who is not guilty.”“ What do we care?” they replied.“ That’s your problem.”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 said,“ It’s against the law to put this money into the temple fund. It is blood money. It has paid for a man’s death.”So they decided to use the money to buy a potter’s field. People from other countries would be buried there.
Judas bought a field with the payment he received for the evil thing he had done. He fell down headfirst in the field. His body burst open. All his insides spilled out.
He took what they gave him and made it into a metal statue of a god. It looked like a calf. Aaron shaped it with a tool. Then the people said,“ Israel, here is your god who brought you up out of Egypt.”
Why did you turn your back on what I told you to do? You did what is evil in my sight. You made sure that Uriah, the Hittite, would be killed in battle. You took his wife to be your own. You let the men of Ammon kill him with their swords.So time after time members of your own royal house will be killed with swords. That’s because you turned your back on me. You took the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, to be your own.’
That was the time they made a statue to be their god. It was shaped like a calf. They brought sacrifices to it. They even enjoyed what they had made with their own hands.
