Three hundred silver coins is literally “three hundred denarii.” According to Matthew 20.2 a “denarius” (the singular of “denarii”) is equivalent to the average daily wage of a laborer. By translating “three hundred dollars” in its earlier editions, Good News Translation simply tried to find a cultural equivalent, like New English Bible, which renders “thirty pounds.” Moffatt (“ten pounds”), Goodspeed (“sixty dollars”), and Phillips (“thirty pounds”) likewise attempt to give a cultural equivalent. Rapid currency inflation in nearly all parts of the world quickly renders all such translations obsolete. New American Bible renders simply “three hundred silver pieces.” Whatever term the translator uses, it should reflect a high amount in relation to the average earnings of a working-class man. In view of the rapid change in the buying power of the money in current use almost everywhere, it may be best to use such a phrase as “silver pieces,” and then to provide a footnote indicating that “a silver piece” was the average daily wage of a working-class man. Some translations actually say “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for the equivalent of three hundred days’ wages?”

Although the Greek of this verse merely has a question (Why wasn’t this perfume sold…?), Phillips (“Why on earth wasn’t this perfume sold? It’s worth thirty pounds…”) and New American Bible (“Why was not this perfume sold? It could have brought three hundred silver pieces…”) render it by a question and a statement, thus indicating that the value of the perfume is in focus here. It is necessary to supply such a term as the money in this verse, though it does not appear in the Greek text. Otherwise the translation may end by sounding as if the perfume should be sold for three hundred dollars and at the same time given to the poor. Note, for example, Revised Standard Version, which has a rather literal rendering of the Greek (“Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”).

Since the question posed by Judas Iscariot was essentially rhetorical (that is to say, he was not really asking for information), it may be best in some languages to transform it into a strong statement, for example, “This perfume should have been sold for three hundred silver coins, and then the money given to the poor.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .