The death of Judas
Judas hangs himself and the priests buy the potter's field with the returned silver; in Acts Judas himself buys a field and falls to burst open — two tellings of one end.
Matthew 27:3-10
3Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4saying, “I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? You see to it.”
5He threw down the pieces of silver in the sanctuary, and departed. He went away and hanged himself.
6The chief priests took the pieces of silver, and said, “It’s not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is the price of blood.”
7They took counsel, and bought the potter’s field with them, to bury strangers in.
8Therefore that field was called “The Field of Blood” to this day.
9Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him upon whom a price had been set, whom some of the children of Israel priced,
10and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”
Acts 1:18-19
18Now this man obtained a field with the reward for his wickedness, and falling headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines gushed out.
19It became known to everyone who lived in Jerusalem that in their language that field was called ‘Akeldama,’ that is, ‘The field of blood.’
What each tradition says
Rabbinic / Midrashic
The source notes that Acts 1:18-19 gives a quite different account of Judas's end. There Judas bought the field with the money and died upon it through a fall, falling headlong and bursting asunder with his bowels gushing out. The account concludes with a reference to Psalm 69:26 (AV 25).
Crawford Howell Toy (1836-1919) and Kaufmann Kohler (1843-1926), The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 7, s.v. 'Judas Iscariot' (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1901-1906) — paragraph beginning 'About the further history of Judas various legends circulated'
Patristic
Papias records that Judas’s body swelled so greatly he could not pass where a chariot could pass easily. He was then crushed by a chariot, so that his bowels gushed out.
Papias of Hierapolis (c. 60-130), Fragments of Papias, frag. III, in The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1; Buffalo: Christian Literature, 1885) — Fragment III (preserved by Œcumenius), on the death of Judas
Catholic
William Kent finds no great difficulty in reconciling the two accounts. The field, bought with the rejected price of Judas’s treachery, might be described as indirectly bought or possessed by Judas, though he did not buy it himself; and Peter’s words about the name Haceldama might refer to the reward of iniquity as well as the traitor’s violent death.
William Kent, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8, s.v. 'Judas Iscariot' (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910) — paragraph beginning 'But there does not seem to be any great difficulty in reconciling the two accounts'
Orthodox
Chrysostom notes that he does not say “the Jews,” but “this man acquired” it. Since weak persons’ minds attend to things present rather than future, he speaks of the immediate punishment inflicted. He says it is well to expand on the punishment, not the sin.
John Chrysostom (c. 349-407), Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, in NPNF ser. 1, vol. 11 (ed. Philip Schaff; T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1889) — Homily III (on Acts i. 12), exposition of verses 16-19
Reformed / Protestant
Calvin explains that Acts does not mean Judas used or bought the field himself, since it was purchased after his death. Rather, Luke means Judas’s burial was a perpetual mark of disgrace, the reward for his falsehood and wicked act.
John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, vol. 1 (trans. Christopher Fetherstone, ed. Henry Beveridge; Calvin Translation Society, Edinburgh, 1844) — comment on Acts 1:18 ('He possessed a field')
Evangelical
According to Albert Barnes, Judas first hanged himself. He then fell and was burst asunder, as stated in Matthew 27:5.
Albert Barnes (1798-1870), Notes on the New Testament, Explanatory and Practical (enlarged ed. by Robert Frew; CCEL carries the Baker reprint) — Note on Acts 1:18