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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Luke C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24
Luke 21 V1 V2 V3 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25 V26 V27 V28 V29 V30 V31 V32 V33 V34 V35 V36 V37 V38
OET (OET-LV) for/because all these throw in their gifts out_of the wealth being_plentiful to_them, but this woman throw out_of the need of_her, all the living which she_was_having.
OET (OET-RV) because they all donated out of their plentiful wealth, but she in her poverty, gave her food budget.”
In this section, a poor widow gave all the money that she had as an offering to God. Jesus praised her for doing that. He contrasted her gift with the gifts that the rich people gave. They gave greater amounts of money, but the widow gave God all the money that she had.
Jesus praised the widow on the same day that he criticized the scribes in the preceding section. In 20:47 Jesus said that the scribes “devour widow’s houses.” Most of the scribes were rich people. There is a strong contrast between the scribes and the widow. The scribes served God in order to impress other people, but the widow served him sincerely.
It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it. Examples of other headings for this section are:
A poor widow gave a generous gift to/for the temple
Jesus compared the gifts given to God by the rich to the gift given by a poor widow
The widow’s gift/offering
There is a parallel passage for this section in Mark 12:41–44.
For they all contributed out of their surplus,
For all these rich people gave some of their surplus/extra money,
I say this because all these other people are rich and gave only what they did not need.
for those others who have given had more than enough, (REB)
For: This verse explains what Jesus said in 21:3b. In Greek it begins with a conjunction that the BSB translates as For. In some languages this connection may be implied without a conjunction. For example:
All these people… (NIV)
Use a natural way in your language to indicate that 21:4 is an explanation for 21:3.
they all: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as they all refers back to “all the others” in 21:3b. These others were the rich people who were giving gifts of money to God. The phrase they all contrasts with the widow in 21:4b. It does not include her. Some other ways to translate the phrase are:
Everyone else (CEV)
All these people (NIV)
Be sure that the contrast with the widow is clear in your translation.
contributed out of their surplus: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as surplus means “more than enough.”See perisseuō, meaning 1a, in BDAG, p. 805. It indicates here that the rich people had more than enough money. The clause indicates that after they gave some money to God, they still had plenty of money to use for whatever they wanted. Other ways to say this are:
have given a tiny part of their surplus (NLT)
have given had more than enough (REB)
contributed: The word contributed refers here to the act of giving the money that the rich people put into the temple treasury as offerings.Some Greek manuscripts and the Majority Text include the words “for/to God” after the word “contributed.” The UBS text does not include them. Metzger (2nd edition, p. 146) says that the words “for/to God” “seem to be a scribal explanation appended…for the sake of Gentile readers….” However, the meaning “for/to God” is certainly implied, so it is fine to include it in the translation if it is needed for naturalness or clarity. Refer to them in a natural way in your language.
In some languages it may not be necessary to include this phrase, because it is implied in the context. For example:
for those others who have given had more than enough (REB)
but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”
but she was very needy, yet she gave God all the money that she needed to survive.”
As for her, she is poor and does not have what she needs. But she gave God every coin that she had to support herself.”
but she, with less than enough, has given all she had to live on.” (REB)
but she out of her poverty: The word she refers to the widow in contrast to the rich people. The phrase her poverty contrasts with the “surplus” of the rich people.
The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as out of her poverty is literally “out of her lack.” It indicates that the widow did not have enough money to buy what she really needed. It is good to use a phrase that contrasts with the wealth of the other people who gave.
Some other ways to translate but she out of her poverty are:
but although she is so needy, she gave
but she has less than she needs, yet she gave
This woman is very poor, but she gave (NCV)
has put in: The Greek verb that the BSB translates here as has put in is the same verb that it translated as “contributed” in 21:4a. In this context it refers to giving the offering, specifically to dropping it into the offering box. In some languages it may be helpful to use the same verb in both clauses to make the contrast clear.
all she had to live on: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as all she had to live on refers to the money that the widow could have used to buy food. She needed that money to survive, but she gave it all as an offering. She had nothing left to buy the things that she needed. Some other ways to translate this are:
all the money that she had, though she needed it to survive/live
all the living that she had (RSV)
everything she had to live on (GW)
ἐκ τοῦ περισσεύοντος αὐτοῖς ἔβαλον εἰς τὰ δῶρα
out_of the_‹wealth› abounding ˱to˲_them cast in out_of the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: πάντες γάρ οὗτοι ἐκ τοῦ περισσεύοντος αὐτοῖς ἔβαλον εἰς τά δῶρα αὕτη δέ ἐκ τοῦ ὑστερήματος αὐτῆς παντᾶ τόν βίον ὅν εἶχεν ἔβαλεν)
Alternate translation: [had a lot of money but only gave a small portion of it]
αὕτη δὲ ἐκ τοῦ ὑστερήματος αὐτῆς, πάντα τὸν βίον ὃν εἶχεν ἔβαλεν
this_‹woman› (Some words not found in SR-GNT: πάντες γάρ οὗτοι ἐκ τοῦ περισσεύοντος αὐτοῖς ἔβαλον εἰς τά δῶρα αὕτη δέ ἐκ τοῦ ὑστερήματος αὐτῆς παντᾶ τόν βίον ὅν εἶχεν ἔβαλεν)
Alternate translation: [But she only had a very little money but gave everything she had to live on]
21:4 The amount given counts for less than the heart attitude of the giver.
OET (OET-LV) for/because all these throw in their gifts out_of the wealth being_plentiful to_them, but this woman throw out_of the need of_her, all the living which she_was_having.
OET (OET-RV) because they all donated out of their plentiful wealth, but she in her poverty, gave her food budget.”
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.