What is 30 pieces of silver in the 21st century?

Answer 1

That depends on what you mean by the question! It is assumed that the piece of silver referred to was a Shekel, which weighed about 15 grammes (about half an ounce). As a commodity, silver is worth around $20 an ounce, so in raw terms a Shekel is now worth $10, so 30 Shekels is worth $300 (£210). However I guess what you are asking is how much it is worth, adjusted for inflation. Well one Shekel would have been around a week's wages for a farm labourer which in today's money is about £290 ($410) in the UK, so 30 Shekels would be about £9000 ($13000). We know Judas went off with his 30 pieces of silver and bought a field, so that $13000 estimate is probably realistic.

Answer 2

No one will really know what it was back then. Back in biblical times a peice of silver was called A denarius. Matthew 20:2 tells that a denarius was an unskilled laborer's wage for a day's work. So take minimum wage, multiply times eight, then times thirty, and you'll have a rough idea. So you see you can have a rough estimate but not exactly how much since inflation.

Answer 3

In modern times, the phrase "30 pieces of silver" is often used to refer to payment for betrayal or deceit. It is not meant to be taken literally as a specific amount, but rather symbolizes a small sum of money used as payment for disloyalty.