Thirty silver coins received by Judas for betraying Jesus (2024)

FAQs

How much are 30 pieces of silver worth in Jesus time? ›

A drachma was approximately a day's pay for a skilled laborer. So 30 pieces of silver (30 tetradrachm), at four drachmas each, would roughly be comparable to four months' (120 days) wages.

Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus's 12 disciples, received 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus to the religious authorities. Although Jesus and all 12 disciples were Jews, the Western world — through art, literature, music, and tradition — chose to depict Judas as the Jew who sold out his Savior for money.

Judas then went on his own to the priests of the Temple, the religious authorities at the time, and offered to betray Jesus in exchange for money—30 pieces of silver, as specified in the Gospel of Matthew.

And they covenanted with him for 30 pieces of silver." Matthew 26:14-15. Shekels of Tyre were the only currency accepted at the Jerusalem Temple and are the most likely coinage with which Judas was paid for the betrayal of Christ.

At the time, Palestine did not produce silver shekels, but instead, used the regional silver coins of Tyre. However, thirty silver coins similar to the ones received by Judas for betraying Jesus, are conserved at the AUB Archaeological Museum.

10 And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me. The modern World English Bible translates the passage as: 9 Then 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.

At spot valuation of $28/ozt in 2021, 30 “pieces of silver” would be worth approximately $91 to $441 in present-day value (USD) depending on which coin was used, wikipedia noted.

Silver speaks of redemption which is the foundation of our faith. Redemption is needed by all and is available to all on the same terms. 1 Peter 1:18‑19 tells us that you cannot be redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, but only with the precious blood of Christ.

Three of the gospels say that Judas went of his own accord to the authorities and asked them to pay him for betraying Jesus: Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, 'What will you give me if I betray him to you?' They paid him thirty pieces of silver.

Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt” (Genesis 37:28-29).

Why did Judas betray Jesus with a kiss? ›

This text explains why Judas Iscariot identified Jesus with a kiss so that the Roman soldiers could arrest him, as related in three canonical gospels (Matthew 26:48; Mark 14:44; Luke 22:47). According to this late Gnostic gospel, that was the only way the Roman soldiers could be sure they had the right man.

The coins themselves, being ancient and historical, would of course be priceless, but at the time they were just regular silver coins used by regular people to buy and sell at the market. That $264.60 is a value out of time, however. You can't just say that Judas betrayed Jesus for 265 dollars.

It refers to someone who has sold out and taken money, high office or personal gain in exchange for betraying a person or an important cause. The phrase comes, of course, from the Bible, because it was for 30 pieces of silver that Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ.

Despite feeling remorse afterwards, Judas did not seek forgiveness and eventually took his own life. Biblical interpretations, like in Acts 1:25 and John's Gospel, suggest that his fate was hell, not because of his suicide, but because he never genuinely embraced Jesus as his savior.

Some scholars have observed that one silver coin was a working man's wage. So in modern terms, a worker getting $15 an hour in an eight-hour day would take would take home $120. Thirty days' wages would be $3,600. It gets more complicated still when we recall that not all coins of the same weight were of equal value.

How many dollars today would equal 50,000 silver coins in the book of Acts 19:19? “Fifty thousand of silver” is what it says in the Greek. If those were silver denarii, each one was worth a day's wages for a farm worker or other laborer, so a total of about $5.5 million.

The denomination of the silver coins was called shekels. Coins containing that amount of silver (about the size of an American silver dollar) would be worth about $10 today. Thus the 20 pieces would be worth about $200 today, as bullion silver.

"When those traders came along, the brothers pulled Joseph up out of the pit and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders took Joseph to Egypt."