“And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.”
King James Version (KJV)
12:41 He beheld how people cast money into the treasury - This treasury received the voluntary contributions of the worshippers who came up to the feast; which were given to buy wood for the altar, and other necessaries not provided for in any other way. #Lu 21:1|.
12:43 I say to you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all - See what judgement is cast on the most specious, outward actions by the Judge of all! And how acceptable to him is the smallest, which springs from self - denying love!
Mr 12:42 There came a certain poor widow. Here, as in other places in the Bible, we must remember the exceedingly depressed and dependent condition of a poor man's widow in the countries where our Lord was. The expression is almost proverbial for one very badly off, and most unlikely to contribute anything to a charitable purpose. Two mites. The smallest of Jewish coins, about the value of one-fifth of a cent. It took its name from its extreme smallness, being derived from the adjective "lepton", signifying "thin". A farthing. Mark (not Luke) adds for his Roman readers an explanation, using a Greek word, "kodrantes", (taken from the Latin "quadrans"), meaning the fourth part, as our word "farthing" does. The value is only of importance as showing upon how minute a gift our Lord pronounced this splendid panegyric, which might be envied by a Croesus or a Rothschild.