Skip to content

Penny

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Gr. denarion), a silver coin of the value of about 7 1/2d. or 8d. of our present money. It is thus rendered in the New Testament, and is more frequently mentioned than any other coin (Matt 18:28; 20:2, 9, 13; Mark 6:37; 14:5, etc.). It was the daily pay of a Roman soldier in the time of Christ. In the reign of Edward III. an English penny was a labourer’s day’s wages. This was the “tribute money” with reference to which our Lord said, “Whose image and superscription is this?” When they answered, “Caesar’s,” he replied, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt 22:19; Mark 12:15).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

Denarius

de-na'-ri-us (denarion): A Roman silver coin, 25 of which went to the aureus, the standard gold coin of the empire in the time of Augustus, which was equal in value to about one guinea or $5,25; more exactly � 1.0,6 = $5.00, the � = $4,866. Hence, the value of the denarius would be about 20 cents and this was the ordinary wage of a soldier and a day laborer. The word is uniformly rendered "penny" in the King James Version and "shilling" in the American Standard Revised Version, except in Matt 22:19; Mark 12:15 and Luke 20:24, where the Latin word is used, since in these passsages it refers to the coin in which tribute was paid to the Roman government. See Money.

H. Porter

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

pen'-i (denarion; Latin denarius (which see)): the American Standard Revised Version (Matt 18:28; Matt 20:2; Matt 20:9; Matt 20:10; Matt 20:13, etc.) renders it by "shilling" except in Matt 22:19; Mark 12:15 and Luke 20:24, where it retains the original term as it refers to a particular coin.

See DENARIUS; MONEY.

Kilde: Easton's Bible Dictionary (M.G. Easton, 1897) og International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (red. James Orr, 1915/1939), public domain. Translated into Danish with AI and not yet proofread (fully or partially). Links to people and places: Theographic Bible Metadata (CC BY-SA 4.0).