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What things cost

Also called Prices in the Bible, Wages and prices.

Every price the text names on one ladder of days' pay, from the widow's two small coins to the servant's ten-thousand-talent debt.

Scripture prices things constantly, and the denarius makes the prices readable: a day's wage by the parable's own terms, so every sum in the gospels is a length of time. Laid on one ladder they run across ten orders of magnitude, which is why it steps by tens rather than by days. The bottom rung is the widow's gift, a sixty-fourth of a day and all she had. The top is the debt the king forgave in Matthew 18, and the same parable sets the fellow servant's hundred denarii beside it: the gap between them is the sermon. Two things are reckoned rather than read. Old Testament prices are in shekels of silver, and are placed at first-century pay, a shekel being worth a stater (the coin that paid the temple tax for two), so Joseph's twenty shekels sit centuries away from the wages they are measured in. And a talent has two honest values in days, the Greek six thousand drachmas and the Hebrew three thousand shekels, so the talents are drawn as a range rather than a point.

Every price the Bible names, in days of a labourer’s pay A ladder of days’ pay from a hundredth of a day to a hundred million days, each step ten times the last: 2 lepta, the widow’s gift, all she had (Mark 12:42): 1/64 of a day; ½ assarion, one sparrow, two for an assarion (Matthew 10:29): 1/32 of a day; 1 denarius, a quart of wheat, in famine (Revelation 6:6): 1 day; 2 denarii, the Samaritan’s pledge at the inn (Luke 10:35): 2 days; 10 drachmas, the woman’s savings, one lost (Luke 15:8): 10 days; 50 denarii, the smaller debt forgiven (Luke 7:41): 50 days; 20 shekels, Joseph, sold by his brothers (Genesis 37:28): 80 days; 100 denarii, the fellow servant’s debt (Matthew 18:28): 100 days; 30 shekels, a slave’s price; Judas’s silver (Exodus 21:32 · Matthew 26:15): 120 days; 200 denarii, bread “not sufficient” for 5,000 (John 6:7): 200 days; 300 denarii, Mary’s ointment, a year’s pay (John 12:5): 300 days; 500 denarii, the larger debt forgiven (Luke 7:41): 500 days; 400 shekels, Abraham’s field and cave (Genesis 23:15): 1,600 days; 1 talent, the third servant’s, buried (Matthew 25:15): 6,000–12,000 days; 50,000 silver, the magic books burned at Ephesus (Acts 19:19): 50,000 days; 5 talents, the first servant’s trust (Matthew 25:15): 30,000–60,000 days; 10,000 talents, the debt the king forgave (Matthew 18:24): 60–120 million days. days of a labourer’s pay one denarius a day (Matthew 20:2) 1/100 1/10 1 10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1 million 10 million 100 million a day a year of work a working life, ~40 years 2 lepta · 1/64 of a day the widow’s gift, all she had Mark 12:42 ½ assarion · 1/32 of a day one sparrow, two for an assarion Matthew 10:29 1 denarius · 1 day a quart of wheat, in famine Revelation 6:6 2 denarii · 2 days the Samaritan’s pledge at the inn Luke 10:35 10 drachmas · 10 days the woman’s savings, one lost Luke 15:8 50 denarii · 50 days the smaller debt forgiven Luke 7:41 20 shekels · 80 days Joseph, sold by his brothers Genesis 37:28 · at first-century pay 100 denarii · 100 days the fellow servant’s debt Matthew 18:28 30 shekels · 120 days a slave’s price; Judas’s silver Exodus 21:32 · Matthew 26:15 · at first-century pay 200 denarii · 200 days bread “not sufficient” for 5,000 John 6:7 300 denarii · 300 days Mary’s ointment, a year’s pay John 12:5 500 denarii · 500 days the larger debt forgiven Luke 7:41 400 shekels · 1,600 days Abraham’s field and cave Genesis 23:15 · at first-century pay 1 talent · 6,000–12,000 days the third servant’s, buried Matthew 25:15 5 talents · 30,000–60,000 days the first servant’s trust Matthew 25:15 50,000 silver · 50,000 days the magic books burned at Ephesus Acts 19:19 10,000 talents · 60–120 million days the debt the king forgave Matthew 18:24 600,000–1,200,000 times the fellow servant’s 100 denarii, in the same parable (18:28) a price in first-century coins, which the Almanac values in days of work an Old Testament price in shekels of silver, placed at first-century pay (a shekel is a stater, 4 days) a talent is 6,000 days by the Greek reckoning and 12,000 days by the Hebrew (3,000 shekels); both are drawn
A day’s pay is a denarius by the text’s own terms, so every coin in the gospels reads as time. The widow’s two coins sit at the bottom of the ladder and the king’s debt at the top, and the servant forgiven that debt then took a man by the throat over a hundred denarii.

Not a word scripture uses. A reading aid, not a word the text uses. It gathers the prices scripture states and sets them in the one unit the text itself defines, the denarius as a day's wage.

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