At that, Jehovah said to me: ‘Throw it to the treasury​—the majestic value with which I have been valued from their standpoint.’ Accordingly I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it into the treasury at the house of Jehovah.

Zechariah 11:12-14.

38. What was the value of that pay given to Zechariah, and how did Jehovah refer to this pay?

³⁸ “Thirty pieces of silver”​—thirty silver shekels—​was the price of a slave according to the Mosaic Law covenant. (Exodus 21:32) Was the prophet Zechariah or the value of his shepherd services worth no more than a slave? And since Zechariah had been appointed by the Heavenly Shepherd Jehovah, the valuation placed upon his appointed representative Zechariah was the same as a valuation placed upon Jehovah as a Shepherd. Jehovah could speak of it as the “value with which I have been valued from their standpoint.” (Unless Zechariah were here making a parenthetical reference to himself!) True, Jehovah did speak of it as a “majestic value” instead of a slave’s value; but evidently this expression was used, not in satisfaction, but in sarcasm or in a cutting manner. It meant that the lack of appreciation was felt.