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
To Sarah he said, "Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your 'brother.' This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you."
So when the Midianite merchants passed by, Joseph's brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites then took Joseph to Egypt.
Then Israel said, "Enough! My son Joseph is still alive! I will go and see him before I die."
They will fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman's father, for the man who made the accusation ruined the reputation of an Israelite virgin. She will then become his wife and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.
The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives.
They paid him seventy silver shekels out of the temple of Baal-Berith. Abimelech then used the silver to hire some lawless, dangerous men as his followers.
The rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her and said to her, "Trick him! Find out what makes him so strong and how we can subdue him and humiliate him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred silver pieces."
He said to his mother, "You know the eleven hundred pieces of silver which were stolen from you, about which I heard you pronounce a curse? Look here, I have the silver. I stole it, but now I am giving it back to you." His mother said, "May the Lord reward you, my son!" When he gave back to his mother the eleven hundred pieces of silver, his mother said, "I solemnly dedicate this silver to the Lord. It will be for my son's benefit. We will use it to make a carved image and a metal image." read more. When he gave the silver back to his mother, she took two hundred pieces of silver to a silversmith, who made them into a carved image and a metal image. She then put them in Micah's house.
Micah said to him, "Stay with me. Become my adviser and priest. I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, plus clothes and food."
Sound your battle cry against the wild beast of the reeds, and the nations that assemble like a herd of calves led by bulls! They humble themselves and offer gold and silver as tribute. God scatters the nations that like to do battle.
So I paid fifteen shekels of silver and about seven bushels of barley to purchase her.
Then I said to them, "If it seems good to you, pay me my wages, but if not, forget it." So they weighed out my payment -- thirty pieces of silver.
Then I said to them, "If it seems good to you, pay me my wages, but if not, forget it." So they weighed out my payment -- thirty pieces of silver. The Lord then said to me, "Throw to the potter that exorbitant sum at which they valued me!" So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the temple of the Lord.
The Lord then said to me, "Throw to the potter that exorbitant sum at which they valued me!" So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the temple of the Lord.
Then Moses and Elijah also appeared before them, talking with him.
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my one dear Son, in whom I take great delight. Listen to him!" When the disciples heard this, they were overwhelmed with fear and threw themselves down with their faces to the ground.
As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, "Do not tell anyone about the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead."
and said, "What will you give me to betray him into your hands?" So they set out thirty silver coins for him.
"Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search thoroughly until she finds it? Then when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.'