Mark 12:42-44

12:42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, ¹  worth less than a penny. 12:43 He called his disciples and said to them, “I tell you the truth, ²  this poor widow has put more into the offering box ³  than all the others. ⁴  12:44 For they all gave out of their wealth. ⁵  But she, out of her poverty, put in what she had to live on, everything she had.” ⁶ 

Luke 21:1-4

The Widow’s Offering

21:1 Jesus ⁷  looked up ⁸  and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box. ⁹  21:2 He also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. ¹⁰  21:3 He ¹¹  said, “I tell you the truth, ¹²  this poor widow has put in more than all of them. ¹³  21:4 For they all offered their gifts out of their wealth. ¹⁴  But she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had to live on.” ¹⁵ 

James 2:5

2:5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! ¹⁶  Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?

Revelation 2:9

2:9 ‘I know the distress you are suffering ¹⁷  and your poverty (but you are rich). I also know ¹⁸  the slander against you ¹⁹  by those who call themselves Jews and really are not, but are a synagogue ²⁰  of Satan.

[12:42]  ¹ sn These two small copper coins were lepta (sing. “lepton”), the smallest and least valuable coins in circulation in Palestine, worth one-half of a quadrans or 1/128 of a denarius, or about six minutes of an average daily wage. This was next to nothing in value.

[12:43]  ² tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[12:43]  ³ tn See the note on the term “offering box” in v. 41.

[12:43]  ⁴ sn Has put more into the offering box than all the others. With God, giving is weighed evaluatively, not counted. The widow was praised because she gave sincerely and at some considerable cost to herself.

[12:44]  ⁵ tn Grk “out of what abounded to them.”

[12:44]  ⁶ sn The contrast between this passage, 12:41-44, and what has come before in 11:27-12:40 is remarkable. The woman is set in stark contrast to the religious leaders. She was a poor widow, they were rich. She was uneducated in the law, they were well educated in the law. She was a woman, they were men. But whereas they evidenced no faith and actually stole money from God and men (cf. 11:17), she evidenced great faith and gave out of her extreme poverty everything she had.

[21:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “He”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[21:1]  ⁸ tn Grk “looking up, he saw.” The participle ἀναβλέψας (anableya") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:1]  ⁹ tn On the term γαζοφυλάκιον (gazofulakion), often translated “treasury,” see BDAG 186 s.v., which states, “For Mk 12:41, 43; Lk 21:1 the mng. contribution box or receptacle is attractive. Acc. to Mishnah, Shekalim 6, 5 there were in the temple 13 such receptacles in the form of trumpets. But even in these passages the general sense of ‘treasury’ is prob., for the contributions would go [into] the treasury via the receptacles.” Based upon the extra-biblical evidence (see sn following), however, the translation opts to refer to the actual receptacles and not the treasury itself.

[21:2]  ¹⁰ sn These two small copper coins were lepta (sing. “lepton”), the smallest and least valuable coins in circulation in Palestine, worth one-half of a quadrans or 1/128 of a denarius, or about six minutes of an average daily wage. This was next to nothing in value.

[21:3]  ¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[21:3]  ¹² tn Grk “Truly, I say to you.”

[21:3]  ¹³ sn Has put in more than all of them. With God, giving is weighed evaluatively, not counted. The widow was praised because she gave sincerely and at some considerable cost to herself.

[21:4]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “out of what abounded to them.”

[21:4]  ¹⁵ tn Or “put in her entire livelihood.”

[2:5]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “know your suffering.” This could refer to suffering or distress caused by persecution (see L&N 22.2).

[2:9]  ¹⁸ tn Because of the length and complexity of this Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the phrase “I also know” to link this English sentence back to “I know” at the beginning of the verse.

[2:9]  ¹⁹ tn The words “against you” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[2:9]  ²⁰ sn A synagogue was a place for Jewish prayer and worship, with recognized leadership (e.g., Mt 4:23, Mk 1:21, Lk 4:15, Jn 6:59).