A.T. Robertson Commentary Matthew 18:24

"And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, that owed him ten thousand talents." — Matthew 18:24 (ASV)

Ten thousand talents (μυριων ταλαντων). A talent was 6,000 denarii or about a thousand dollars or 240 pounds. Ten thousand times this is about ten or twelve million dollars, an enormous sum for that period. We live today in the age of national debts of billions of dollars or even of pounds sterling. The imperial taxes of Judea, Idumea, and Samaria for one year were only 600 talents while Galilee and Perea paid 200 (Josephus, Ant. xi. 4). But oriental kings were free in the use of money and in making debts like the native kings of India today.