What Does Zechariah 11:13 Mean?
And the LORD said to me, Throw it to the potter, the splendid, weighty price at which they weighed me. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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 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.
“the potter” in this verse is yōṣēr. 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.
“weighty price” 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, LORD, you are our father. We are the clay, and you our potter, and all of us are the work of your hand.Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was filled, saying, They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one who was valued, whom the children of Israel valued.They gave them for the potter's field, as the LORD appointed me.THE THREAD
But now, LORD, you are our father. We are the clay, and you our potter, and all of us are the work of your 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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