Betrayal of Judas

The act of treachery by Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’s twelve apostles, who went to the chief priests and agreed to betray his master for thirty pieces of silver—the price of a slave under Mosaic law. At the Last Supper, Jesus announced “One of you will betray me” and identified Judas by giving him a piece of bread, after which “Satan entered into him” and Jesus told him “What you are about to do, do quickly.” Judas left immediately into the night.

Later that evening, Judas led an armed crowd of chief priests, elders, and temple guards to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was praying. Having arranged a signal—“The one I kiss is the man; arrest him”—Judas approached Jesus and said “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. Jesus responded “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” The guards seized Jesus while the disciples fled. When Judas saw that Jesus was condemned to death, he was seized with remorse, returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests saying “I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood,” but they replied “What is that to us? That’s your responsibility.”

Judas threw the money into the temple and went away and hanged himself (Matthew 27:3-5). The chief priests used the blood money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners, which became known as the Field of Blood (Hakeldama). Acts 1:18 provides an alternate account where Judas himself bought a field with the reward money and “falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out.” After Jesus’s resurrection, the apostles chose Matthias to replace Judas and restore the number of the Twelve.