Thirty pieces of silver was the price for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, according to an account in the Gospel of Matthew 26:15 in the New Testament.
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.
Judas was paid 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus . The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.” And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers.
There are 31.1035 grams per troy ounce. At spot valuation of $17.06 /oz (the closing price on Monday, December 12, 2016), 30 “pieces of silver” would be worth between $185 and $216 in present-day value (USD).
So 30 pieces are about 5 weeks money (based on a 6 day working week.) In terms of purchasing power, each silver piece was probably worth about $20. The standards of living being much , much lower than in modern (Western) societies. So the thirty pieces are worth about $600.
The coins were most likely thirty shekels of silver , each of which weighed approximately half a troy ounce (fifteen grams). To put this into perspective, the current price for fifteen grams of silver is around R110. The total value today of thirty shekels would be no more than R3300.
For fifty shekels you get today 15 dollars 19 cents. If there is going to be any change in the exchange rate of ₪ to $, recalculation of the amount will be done automatically when the page is refreshed.
As with many ancient units, the shekel had a variety of values depending on the era, government and region; weights between 7 and 17 grams and values of 11, 14, and 17 grams are common.
Depending on which of the coins was used, in modern values of silver , these known coins would bring the sum to be between $250 and $300. 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.
The thirty pieces of silver is the amount of money that Judas (Judas Iscariot) was given to from the chief priests after his brutal betrayal of Jesus. Judas was well known for his weakness for money so he was tempted to accept the offer.
These symbols are key to Christians because of their reference to the cross of Christ where our sins were forgiven through His sacrifice. “ Jesus answered, “He it is, to whom I shall give a sop , when I have dipped it.” And when he had dipped the sop , he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.”
Silver is originally a vampire weakness because when judas betrayed Jesus over to the sanhedrin (the government in Jerusalem, Israel) his reward was 30 pieces of silver so that mark of betrayal is a curse to the undead and unholy just like crosses or holy water. Vampires are fictional characters.
Saint Matthias, (flourished 1st century ad, Judaea; d. traditionally Colchis, Armenia; Western feast day February 24, Eastern feast day August 9), the disciple who, according to the biblical Acts of the Apostles 1:21–26, was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot after Judas betrayed Jesus.