St Mark 12:38-44
A widow’s generosity
12:38As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces
12:39and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets!
12:40They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
12:41He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums.
12:42A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny.
12:43Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.
12:44For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
[38]Καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς ἐν τῇ διδαχῇ αὐτοῦ· βλέπετε ἀπὸ τῶν γραμματέων τῶν θελόντων ἐν στολαῖς περιπατεῖν καὶ ἀσπασμοὺς ἐν ταῖς ἀγοραῖς
[39]καὶ πρωτοκαθεδρίας ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς καὶ πρωτοκλισίας ἐν τοῖς δείπνοις.
[40]οἱ κατεσθίοντες τὰς οἰκίας τῶν χηρῶν καὶ προφάσει μακρὰ προσευχόμενοι! οὗτοι λήψονται περισσότερον κρῖμα.
[41]Καὶ καθίσας ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς κατέναντι τοῦ γαζοφυλακίου ἐθεώρει πῶς ὁ ὄχλος βάλλει χαλκὸν εἰς τὸ γαζοφυλάκιον.
[42]καὶ πολλοὶ πλούσιοι ἔβαλλον πολλά· καὶ ἐλθοῦσα μία χήρα πτωχὴ ἔβαλε λεπτὰ δύο, ὅ ἐστι κοδράντης.
[43]καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ἡ χήρα ἡ πτωχὴ αὕτη πλεῖον πάντων ἔβαλε τῶν βαλλόντων εἰς τὸ γαζοφυλάκιον·
[44]πάντες γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ περισσεύοντος αὐτοῖς ἔβαλον· αὕτη δὲ ἐκ τῆς ὑστερήσεως αὐτῆς πάντα ὅσα εἶχεν ἔβαλεν, ὅλον τὸν βίον αὐτῆς.
Comments
Ironical undertones can be detected in the phrases ἐν στολαῖς περιπατεῖν (38) and οἱ κατεσθίοντες τὰς οἰκίας (40). The scribes receive ‘first-class’ seating denoted by two nouns prefixed with πρωτο-. Wolves or scavengers dressed up in official, long-flowing robes devour the livelihoods of widows—those are the nuances of Jesus’ words.
[38] βλέπετε: βλέπω, ‘I see, have the power of sight’ (cl. poet.: LSJ, s.v. A.1) in the NT has come to mean ‘beware (of’) (LSJ A. II.4).
ἐν στολαῖς περιπατεῖν: στολή, collective sg., ‘clothes, raiment’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. II.1); in LXX, ‘robes’, as here, e.g. Ex. 28:21.
περιπατέω, ‘I walk about’ (cl Gk: LSJ s.v.1); also in LXX (Muraoka 1a). Cf. Engl. peripatetic. The implication here is ironical (‘they strut about’).
[39] πρωτοκαθεδρίας: the first of the two words prefixed with πρωτο- (honorific ‘first’); πρωτοκαθεδρία, ἡ, ‘the first seat’, not in cl. Gk or in LXX.
πρωτοκλισίας: πρωτοκλισία, ἡ, ‘the first seat at table’, not in cl. Gk or in LXX. Perhaps the centre seat.
[40] κατεσθίοντες: κατεσθίω, intensive form of ἐσθίω (eat’), ‘eat up, devour’ , used in Homer of predators; in cl Gk used figuratively as here, ‘devour, consume, e.g. a fortune, an estate’ (LSJ s.v. 1 & 2); LXX use the vb in the Homeric sense and also fig., of wealth (Muraoka s.v. 1 & 2).
One imagines the scribes dressed in fine robes wolfishly devouring the estates of widows. Jesus has animalised them.
[42] καὶ πολλοὶ πλούσιοι ἔβαλλον πολλά· καὶ ἐλθοῦσα μία χήρα πτωχὴ ἔβαλε λεπτὰ δύο: the impf. tense ἔβαλλον shows that ‘many wealthy persons kept putting in much money’—an abundance of donors repeatedly contributing; whilst the aor. ἔβαλε tells us that the widow dropped her poor pennies in a one-off action.
κοδράντης: ‘quadrans’, a Hellenised Latin term for ‘penny’ not attested in cl. Gk or LXX. Here it has the value of two pennies (EDNT s.v.). Cf. ‘widow’s mite’.
[44] τὸν βίον: βίος, ‘way of life’ (a cultural term in cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. I.1); but here, ‘livelihood, means of living’ (also a cultural term already in Homer: LSJ s.v. II).
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 