He saw a certain poor widow casting in two small brass coins.
Parallel Translations
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He saw a certain poor widow casting in two small brass coins.
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And he sawe also a certayne povre widdowe which cast in thyther two mites.
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And he sawe also a certaine poore widowe which cast in thither two mites:
Cross-references (1)
Passages linked to Luke 21:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Mark 12:42 A poor widow came, and she cast in two small brass coins, which equal a quadrans coin.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (8 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2 And he saw also a certain poor widow…
2 And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.
Ver. 2. Casting in thither two mites] That is, two eighth parts of a half-penny, saith the Syriac. {See Trapp on "Mar 12:41"} {See Trapp on "Mar 12:42"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And he saw also a certain poor widow,.... Whom…
And he saw also a certain poor widow,.... Whom he took particular notice of above all the rest: the poor, and the widow, are regarded by him, and are his care; nor are their mean services, done in faith, and from a principle of love, despised by him, but preferred to the greater services of others, where faith and love are wanting:
casting in thither two mites; the value of a farthing. The Persic version renders it, "two bottoms of yarn"; See Gill on Mar 12:42,
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. A certain poor widow] A widow miserably…
Verse 2. A certain poor widow] A widow miserably poor; this is the proper import of πενιχραν, and her being miserably poor heightened the merit of the action.
Two mites.] Which Mark says, Mr 12:42, make a farthing or quadrans, the fourth part of an AS, or penny, as we term it. In Plutarch's time we find the smallest piece of brass coin in use among the Romans was the quadrans, but it appears that a smaller piece of money was in circulation among the Jews in our Lord's time, called here, and in Mark, Mr 12:42, a lepton, i.e. small, diminished, from λειπο, I fail. In ancient times our penny used to be marked with a deep indented cross, dividing the piece into four equal parts, which, when broken in two, made the half-penny, and, when broken into four, made the fourthing, what we have corrupted into farthing. Probably the Roman quadrans was divided in this way for the convenience of the poor. Our term mite seems to have been taken from the animal called by that name; for as that appeared to our ancestors to be the smallest of all animals, so this being the smallest of all coins was called by its name. Junius says that mite was a small base coin among the Dutch. Our word mite seems to be a contraction of the Latin minutum, a small thing, whence the French miete, a crumb, a very small morsel. See Clarke on Mr 12:41.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain two mites--"which make a farthing" (Mar 12:42), the smallest…
two mites--"which make a farthing" (Mar 12:42), the smallest Jewish coin. "She might have kept one" [BENGEL].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. also] If the kai be genuine, it should…
2. also] If the kai be genuine, it should perhaps follow the tina— “some one—even a widow.”
two mites] “which make a farthing,” Mar_12:42. The lepton or prutah was the smallest of coins, and the Rabbis did not allow any one to give less than two.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) A certain poor widow.—St. Luke’s word for “poor”…
(2) A certain poor widow.—St. Luke’s word for “poor” differs from St. Mark’s, and seems to have been carefully chosen to express the fact that the widow, though “needy,” and compelled to work for her scanty maintenance, was yet not a “beggar,” as the more common word for “poor” suggested. It is not found elsewhere in the New Testament.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And he saw also a certain poor widow casting…
And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. The mite (lepton) was the smallest current coin. Two of these little pieces were the smallest legal offering which could be dropped into the "trumpet." But this sum, as the Heart-reader, who knew all things, tells us (ver. 4), was every particle of money she had in the world; and it was this splendid generosity on the part of the poor solitary widow which won the Lord"s praise, which has touched the hearts of so many generations since, which has stirred up in so many hearts an admiration of an act so strangely beautiful, but well-nigh inimitable.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 21:2 two small coins: Together, two lepta were worth…
21:2 two small coins: Together, two lepta were worth only about 1/64 of a denarius (the standard day’s wage for a laborer).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.