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During those days of patient devotion,
Uplifted with expectant emotion,
Peter stood forth so that he could address
A matter that urgently needed redress:
The assignment of the unoccupied spot,
Made vacant by Judas and what he had wrought.
So standing before the company's sight--
A hundred and twenty disciples of Christ--
Peter then spoke: "Brethren, listen and know:
That which the holy Scriptures foretold
Had to be fulfilled in what's taken place,
Yes, all that we've witnessed here in these days.
What the Holy Spirit said long ago,
In words that David himself had set forth
Concerning Judas, who served as a guide
For those who captured our Lord ere he died--
The words of those prophecies come to bear
On us, who the Master's commission now share.
For Judas was numbered one of our own,
A witness to all that we've seen and known,
A sharer, indeed, of this ministry
Which we remaining Eleven received.
For there in the Psalms, you will find this said
Of him who betrayed, and now is dead:
'Desolate shall his appointed place be,
And empty, undwelt, is his vacant seat.'
And this, too, again, the Psalms have to say:
'Let his place of office another take.'"
(For Judas perished, as came the report,
Just shortly after he betrayed the Lord;
From Judas' coins, the price which he sought
To give over Christ, a field was bought.
And there in that place, the Iscariot died.
His body, distended, hanging up high,
Fell and burst open--a gruesome demise,
Played out in view of Jerusalem's eyes.
Soon everyone knew, as swift the word spread
That Christ's betrayer had ended up dead.
And so "Akeldama" they called the place--
"The Field of Blood" was henceforth its name.)