21:1 Jesus 1 looked up 2 and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box. 3 21:2 He also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 4
1 tn Grk “He”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
2 tn Grk “looking up, he saw.” The participle ἀναβλέψας (anableya") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
3 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.
4 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.