Luke 21:1-7

The Widow’s Offering

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  21:3 He ⁵  said, “I tell you the truth, ⁶  this poor widow has put in more than all of them. ⁷  21:4 For they all offered their gifts out of their wealth. ⁸  But she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had to live on.” ⁹ 

The Signs of the End of the Age

21:5 Now ¹⁰  while some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned ¹¹  with beautiful stones and offerings, ¹²  Jesus ¹³  said, 21:6 “As for these things that you are gazing at, the days will come when not one stone will be left on another. ¹⁴  All will be torn down!” ¹⁵  21:7 So ¹⁶  they asked him, ¹⁷  “Teacher, when will these things ¹⁸  happen? And what will be the sign that ¹⁹  these things are about to take place?”

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

[21:1]  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.

[21:1]  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.

[21:2]  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.

[21:3]  ⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[21:3]  ⁶ tn Grk “Truly, I say to you.”

[21:3]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Grk “out of what abounded to them.”

[21:4]  ⁹ tn Or “put in her entire livelihood.”

[21:5]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[21:5]  ¹¹ sn The Jerusalem temple was widely admired around the world. See Josephus, Ant. 15.11 (15.380-425); J. W. 5.5 (5.184-227) and Tacitus, History 5.8, who called it “immensely opulent.” Josephus compared it to a beautiful snowcapped mountain.

[21:5]  ¹² tn For the translation of ἀνάθημα (anaqhma) as “offering” see L&N 53.18.

[21:5]  ¹³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:6]  ¹⁴ sn With the statement days will come when not one stone will be left on another Jesus predicted the total destruction of the temple, something that did occur in a.d. 70.

[21:6]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “the days will come when not one stone will be left on another that will not be thrown down.”

[21:7]  ¹⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Jesus’ comments about the temple’s future destruction.

[21:7]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “asked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[21:7]  ¹⁸ sn Both references to these things are plural, so more than the temple’s destruction is in view. The question may presuppose that such a catastrophe signals the end.

[21:7]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “when.”