Some claim it is a mistake that Matthew attributes the quotation in Matthew 27:9-10 to Jeremiah instead of Zechariah.
Most questions of this sort usually find answers in the footnotes of the common Study Bibles.
For example the NIV Study Bible has this footnote on Mt. 27:9
-
Jeremiah. The quotation that follows seems to be a combination
of Zec 11:12-13 and Jer 19:1-13 (or perhaps Jer 18:2-12 or Jer 32:6-9).
But Matthew attributes it to the major prophet Jeremiah, just as
Mark (1:2-3) quotes Mal 3:1 and Isa 40:3 but attributes them to the
major prophet Isaiah.
This is actually pretty common in the Bible. The NIV Quest Study Bible adds possible another thought:
-
... it was customary to allude to an entire section of the Bible
by the name of the first book in that section. It may be that
in Matthew's day Jeremiah was the first of the prophetic books.
If a more in depth discussion is needed, I would recommend the valuable book Hard Sayings of the Bible, which discusses this passage on pages 399-400. Another contemporary reply, is Gleason Archer's Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (Zondervan, 1982), p. 345. However, some might prefer the older approach used by E. W. Bullinger in The Companion Bible (ca. 1916; reprinted in the U.S. by Zondervan, 1974), at Appendix 161, which deals with these passages at length. "When Critics Ask" by Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe also has a short discussion on it.
Bible commentary Index
Answering Islam Home Page