Reference: Piece of silver
Smith
Piece of silver.
I. In the Old Testament the word "pieces" is used in the Authorized Version for a word understood in the Hebrew (if we except)
The phrase is always "a thousand," or the like, "of silver."
Ge 20:16; 37:28; 45:28; Jg 9:4; 16:5; 2Ki 6:25; Ho 3:2; Zec 11:12-13
In similar passages the word "shekels" occurs in the Hebrew. There are other passages in which the Authorized Version supplies the word "shekels" instead of "pieces,"
De 22:19,29; Jg 17:2-3,4,10; 2Sa 18:11-12
and of these the first two require this to be done. The shekel, be it remembered, was the common weight for money, and therefore most likely to be understood in an elliptical phrase. The "piece" or shekel of silver weighed 220 grains, or about half an ounce, and was worth a little more than half a dollar (55 cents). II. In the New Testament two words are rendered by the phrase "piece of silver:"
1. Drachma,
Lu 15:8-9
which was a Greek silver coin, equivalent, at the time of St. Luke, to the Roman denarias (15 or 16 cents).
2. Silver occurs only in the account of the betrayal of our Lord for "thirty pieces of silver."
It is difficult to ascertain what coins are here intended. If the most common silver pieces be meant, they would be denarii. The parallel passage in Zachariah,
must, however, be taken into consideration where shekels (worth about 55 cents) must be understood. It is more probable that the thirty pieces of silver were tetradrachms than that they were denarii (80 cents).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is for thee a covering of the eyes to all who are with thee. And in regard to all thou are righted.
And there passed by Midianites, merchantmen, and they drew and lifted Joseph up out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt.
And Israel said, It is enough, Joseph my son is yet alive. I will go and see him before I die.
and they shall fine him a hundred [shekels] of silver, and give them to the father of the damsel, because he has brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel, and she shall be his wife. He may not put her away all his days.
then the man who lay with her shall give to the damsel's father fifty [shekels] of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has humbled her. He may not put her away all his days.
And they gave him seventy [pieces] of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and unstable fellows who followed him.
And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Entice him, and see in what his great strength lays, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him. And we will give thee every o
And he said to his mother, The eleven hundred [pieces] of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me. I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be m And he restored the eleven hundred [pieces] of silver to his mother. And his mother said, I verily dedicate the silver to LORD from my hand for my son to make a graven image and a molten image. Now therefore I will restore it to th read more. And when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred [pieces] of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made of it a graven image and a molten image. And it was in the house of Micah.
And Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten [pieces] of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy food. So the Levite went in.
Rebuke the wild beast of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the peoples, trampling under foot the pieces of silver. He has scattered the peoples that delight in war.
So I bought her to me for fifteen [pieces] of silver, and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley.
And I said to them, If ye think good, give me my wage, and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my wage thirty [pieces] of silver.
And I said to them, If ye think good, give me my wage, and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my wage thirty [pieces] of silver. And LORD said to me, Cast it to the potter, the good price that I was valued by them. And I took the thirty [pieces] of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of LORD.
And LORD said to me, Cast it to the potter, the good price that I was valued by them. And I took the thirty [pieces] of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of LORD.
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him.
While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And lo, a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were exceedingly afraid.
And while they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man will rise from the dead.
he said, What are ye willing to give me, and I will deliver him to you? And they weighed out to him thirty silver pieces.
Or what woman having ten drachmas, if she lose one drachma, does not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her lady friends and lady neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, because I found the drachma that I lost.