pearl of great price

Cultural  

1. A phrase from one of the parables of Jesus; he compares the journey to heaven to a search for fine pearls conducted by a merchant, “who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”

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The expression has come to mean anything that is very valuable. For example, Hester Prynne, in The Scarlet Letter, who gave birth to a daughter following an act of adultery that destroyed her honor, named the child Pearl, because she had given up all that she had in bearing the child.

Example Sentences

“Sensible measures maintained and regularly reviewed can protect that pearl of great price — democratically elected representatives that are easily but safely accessible. We don’t want to live in fortresses. But I don’t want to lose another colleague to a violent death.”

From Washington Post

What if it was just another parable like the mustard seed or the pearl of great price?

From Salon

He has found his pearl of great price — the political welfare of Trump — and has sold everything else to buy it.

From Washington Post

Last year, Trump gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a pearl of great price — the announcement of the relocation of the U.S.

From Washington Post

The central image of the poem is taken from the Book of Matthew, in which Jesus says that “the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”

From The New Yorker