THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW - Chapter 18 - Verse 24

Verse 24. Ten thousand talents. A talent was a sum of money, or weight of silver or gold, amounting to three thousand shekels. A silver shekelwas worth, after the captivity, not far from half a dollar of our money. A talent of silver was worth 1519 dollars, 23 cents, [or £342 3s. 9d.] of gold, 24,309 dollars, 88 cents, [or £5,475.] If these were silver talents, as is probable, then the sum owed by the servant was 16,180,000 dollars, [or about £8,421,876 sterling]; a sum which proves that he was not a domestic, but some tributary prince. The sum is used to show that the debt was immensely large, and that our sins are so great that they cannot be estimated or numbered. Compare Job 27:5.

{1} "thousand talents" "A talent is 750 ounces of silver, which, at 5s, the oz., is 187l. 10s."