Pieces
Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)
(1) of silver. In Psalm 68:30 denotes “fragments,” and not properly money. In 1 Samuel 2:36 (Hebrews agorah), properly a “small sum” as wages, weighed rather than coined. Joshua 24:32 (Hebrews kesitah, q.v.), supposed by some to have been a piece of money bearing the figure of a lamb, but rather simply a certain amount. (Comp. Genesis 33:19). (2.) The word pieces is omitted in many passages, as Genesis 20:16; 37:28; 45:22, etc. The passage in Zechariah 11:12, 13 is quoted in the Gospel (Matthew 26:15), and from this we know that the word to be supplied is “shekels.” In all these omissions we may thus warrantably supply this word. (3.) The “piece of money” mentioned in Matthew 17:27 is a stater=a Hebrew shekel, or four Greek drachmae; and that in Luke 15:8, 9, Act 19:19, a Greek drachma=a denarius. (See PENNY.)