What Does Zechariah 11:13 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The twice-cast price lands with the potter, the Former, placing human valuation in the LORD’s house, before the one who shapes.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you where a human valuation feels final: it names the amount and calls it a “goodly price,” with sharp irony. The silver is cast into the LORD’s house, to the potter, the one who forms. The scene holds the contempt in view while placing that valuation before the Former.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that the price other people assign you defines your worth.
THE ROOT
יוֹצֵר
yōṣēr
GROWS FROM
יצר
y-ṣ-r
To form, fashion, or shape.
English presents “potter” as an occupation, while the Hebrew word names the person by the act of forming. The silver is cast to the Former, in the LORD’s house; the word itself brings the act of shaping into the scene.
ALSO GROWS
yāṣar: To form or fashion.
יָצַר
This verb names the action held inside “potter”: the one who forms.
yēṣer: Formation, frame, or disposition.
יֵצֶר
This noun extends the root from the former’s work to what is formed.
יְקָר
yeqār
GROWS FROM
יקר
y-q-r
To be precious, costly, or highly valued.
“price / was prized” in this verse is yeqār. “Goodly price” and “was prised” echo the same Hebrew root of value. The verse calls the price precious while exposing the contempt in the valuation: the amount reveals what they thought the speaker was worth to them.
ALSO GROWS
yāqār: Precious or costly.
יָקָר
This adjective carries the sense of high value heard in “goodly price.”
yeqār: Value, preciousness, or price.
יְקָר
This noun shares its root with “I was prized,” joining the amount paid to the act of assigning worth.
THE PATTERN
The potter’s image keeps the act of forming visible when people assign a life a price.
But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.THE THREAD
But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.Both verses use יוֹצֵר (yōṣēr), from יָצַר (yāṣar), meaning “to form.” Isaiah names the relationship directly: the LORD is the Former, and people are clay and the work of his hand; that shared word places Zechariah’s contemptuous valuation in the house of the one who forms.
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