Field of Blood
Field of Blood is a region mentioned in the New Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Akeldama. It appears across 2 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
The Field of Blood, known in Aramaic as Akeldama, carries one of the darkest designations in the New Testament. It appears in two related accounts of Judas Iscariot's end. Matthew 27:3–10 records that after betraying Jesus, a remorseful Judas returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, who could not place blood money in the temple treasury and instead used it to purchase a potter's field as a burial ground for foreigners, thereafter called the Field of Blood. Matthew interprets this as a fulfillment of Zechariah 11:12–13. Acts 1:18–19 provides a complementary account in which Judas himself purchased the field and died there in a gruesome manner, his body bursting open. Both accounts converge in the name Akeldama, given by the Jerusalem community because of its association with blood. The field became a burial ground, and ancient tradition located it on the southern slope of the Hinnom Valley, below the convergence with the Kidron. Akeldama thus became a solemn geographical witness to the cost of betrayal and the fulfillment of prophetic Scripture in the final days of Jesus's earthly ministry.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Akeldama (the Field of Blood) is traditionally located on the southern slope of the Hinnom Valley (Wadi er-Rababi) in Jerusalem, just below its junction with the Kidron Valley. The site has been venerated since at least the Byzantine period, and a large charnel house known as the Charnel House of Akeldama was constructed there in the medieval period by the Knights of St. John as a burial repository for pilgrims. Archaeological investigations have revealed rock-cut tombs in the area dating from the Second Temple period, consistent with its use as a burial ground. Excavations in the 1990s by the Israel Antiquities Authority uncovered additional tomb complexes with ossuaries from the 1st century BC to 1st century AD.
Verse Appearances (2)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]