Thirty Pieces of silver

Posted by ESC on September 18, 2001

In Reply to: Thirty Pieces of silver posted by masakim on September 17, 2001

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: : : what does this mean? I have an assignment due on Friday and I don't know what it means

: : It's Biblical. Jesus was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. I'm away from my library (and my Bible) right now. Perhaps one of the other Phrase Finders has the Good Book at hand and can give you more information.

: Thirty pieces of silver. The sum of money that Judas Iscariot received from the chief priest for the betrayal of Christ (Matthew 26:5). Hence the expression is used proverbially of a bribe or blood money.
: From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable revised by Adrian Room
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: tunc abiit unus de duodecim qui dicitur Iudas Scarioth ad principes sacerdotum
: et ait illis quid vultis mihi dare et ego vobis eum tradam at illi constituerunt ei triginta argenteos

: Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,
: And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:14-15)
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: Roger Enrico is still trying to make sense the caper in Caracas, a first-of-its kind raid. "This guy was a personal friend," Enrico says of Oswald Cisneros, 55, the Venezuelan who headed one of Pepsi's largest and oldest foreign bottling franchises. "Ozzie took his 30 pieces of silver and ran." (_Fortune_, 28 Oct. 1996)

Here's another reference:
"THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER - the price of betrayal. Thirty pieces of silver was the payment received by Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus to the Roman soldiers with a kiss. He received his payment but repented and returned it to the priests and then hanged himself." From the "Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Allusions" by Elizabeth Webber and Mike Feinsilber (Merriam-Webster, Springfield, Mass., 1999).