Matthew 26:15

κἀγώ. Here the form of the sentence is probably an example of colloquial simplicity, but the use of καὶ where in classical Greek the sentences would be joined by a consecutive (ὥστε) or final (ἵνα, ὅπως) particle, is a mark of Hebrew influence. Such sentences are connected by coordinate particles, and the relation between them is left to inference from the context.

ἔστησαν αὐτῷ τριάκοντα�. ‘Weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver.’ For this use of ἵστημι, cp. μὴ στήσῃς αὐτοῖς ταύτην τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, Acts 7:60, and στατήρ, which, like its equivalent ‘shekel,’ originally meant ‘a weight.’

τριάκοντα�. ‘Thirty silver shekels.’ St Matthew alone names the sum, which = 120 denarii. The shekel is sometimes reckoned at three shillings, but for the real equivalent in English money see note on Matthew 26:7. Thirty shekels was the price of a slave (Exodus 21:32); a fact which gives force to our Lord’s words, ch. Matthew 20:28, and to the passage there cited from Philippians 2:7-8.