^21:1Jesus¹ looked up² and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box.³^21:2He also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.⁴^21:3He⁵ said, “I tell you the truth,⁶ this poor widow has put in more than all of them.⁷

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Footnotes

1 Grk “He”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
2 Grk “looking up, he saw.” The participle ἀναβλέψας (anablepsas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
3 On the term γαζοφυλάκιον (gazophulakion), often translated “treasury,” see , which states, “For Mk 12:41, 43; Lk 21:1 the mng. contribution box or receptacle is attractive. to , 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 following), however, the translation opts to refer to the actual receptacles and not the treasury itself. The offering box probably refers to the receptacles in the temple forecourt by the Court of Women used to collect freewill offerings. These are mentioned by Josephus, 5.5.2 (5.200), 6.5.2 (6.282); 19.6.1 (19.294); and in 1 Macc 14:49 and 2 Macc 3:6, 24, 28, 40 (see also Mark 12:41; John 8:20).
4 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.
5 Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
6 Grk “Truly, I say to you.”
7 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.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

He looked up and saw the rich dropping their offerings into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow dropping in two tiny coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all of them.

NLTNew Living Translation

While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins.

“I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And he looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the contribution box, and he saw a certain poor widow putting in there two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow put in more than all of them.

KJV 1900King James Version

And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:

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