Chapter

Matthew 26:15

ESV and said, "What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?" And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.
NIV and asked, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?" So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.
NASB and said, 'What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?' And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.
CSB and said, "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" So they weighed out thirty pieces of silver for him.
NLT and asked, 'How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?' And they gave him thirty pieces of silver.
KJV 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.
NKJV and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.

What does Matthew 26:15 mean?

Under the influence of Satan (John 13:2, 27), one of Jesus' chosen twelve disciples, Judas Iscariot, has made a traitorous decision. He will betray the Lord to the Jewish religious leaders who want to arrest and kill him (John 13:3–4). Matthew positions this decision following Jesus' correction of the disciples over expensive ointment. They said the woman who anointed Jesus should have sold the oil and given the money to the poor. Jesus insisted she was preparing His body for burial (Matthew 26:1–14).

John 12:6 reveals that Judas was already stealing from the group moneybag at this point. He may have been growing in disillusionment with Jesus' approach to Rome, the Pharisees, and Israel. His decision now to betray Jesus also comes with an apparent financial motive. He asks the chief priests what they will give him to deliver Jesus over to them. They pay Judas 30 pieces of silver.

This was not a large amount of money. It is the amount in the law that was to be paid by the owner of an ox that accidentally gored a slave to death (Exodus 21:32). Zechariah only sarcastically referred to this as a "lordly price" (Zechariah 11:13). It is a shockingly low amount for the betrayal of the Son of God, of course, and it reveals how little value Israel's religious leaders placed on Jesus. It also suggests that Judas' motivations might have been personal, in that he perhaps came to resent Jesus and His mission.
Expand
Expand
Expand
What is the Gospel?
Download the app: