thirty pieces of silver

Cultural  

1. The money Judas Iscariot received for betraying Jesus to the authorities. He later threw the money into the Temple of Jerusalem (see also Jerusalem), and the chief priests bought the “potter's field” with it, to be used as a cemetery for foreigners.

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“Thirty pieces of silver” is also used proverbially to refer to anything paid or given for a treacherous act.

This money is referred to as “blood money” — money received for the life of another human being.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

thirty pieces of silver

“Although I am rather hungry, and you have, after all, just sold a memento of my childhood for thirty pieces of silver, so to speak.”

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

Or they investigated the earlier history of the thirty pieces of silver given to Judas Iscariot as the reward for the betrayal of his master, tracing the money back as far as Abraham.

From The Influence of the Bible on Civilisation by Ernst Von Dobschutz

Judas had received the thirty pieces of silver and began his remorse by taking them, in a red purse, back to the priests, who scoffed at him and turned him out. 

From Castellinaria and Other Sicilian Diversions by Henry Festing Jones

So they weighed as my wages thirty pieces of silver.

From Studies in Zechariah by Arno C. Gaebelein

“Yes, sold, your honour, for the thirty pieces of silver, like Joseph was sold into Egypt by his brethren.”

From Hansford: A Tale of Bacon's Rebellion by St. George Tucker

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