Pieces
   (1) of silver. In Ps. 68:30 denotes "fragments," and not
   properly money. In 1 Sam. 2:36 (Heb. agorah), properly a "small
   sum" as wages, weighed rather than coined. Josh. 24:32 (Heb.
   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. Gen. 33:19).
   
     (2.) The word pieces is omitted in many passages, as Gen.
   20:16; 37:28; 45:22, etc. The passage in Zech. 11:12, 13 is
   quoted in the Gospel (Matt. 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 Matt. 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.)