Luke 20:24

24 "Show me a denarius! Whose image and inscription does it have?" And they answered [and] said, "Caesar's."

Luke 20:24 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 20:24

Show me a penny
A Roman denarius, value seven pence halfpenny of our money. The Persic version adds, "they showed it, he asked of them"; and the Ethiopic version, "and they brought it, and he said unto them", as follows;

whose image and superscription hath it?
for the penny had an head upon it, with something written, as the name of the emperor, whose image it was, his titles, the date of the coin, or some motto on it:

they answered and said, Caesar's;
very likely Tiberius Caesar's, who was at that time emperor of Rome; (See Gill on Matthew 22:20) and (See Gill on Matthew 22:21).

Luke 20:24 In-Context

22 Is it permitted [for] us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
23 But seeing through their craftiness, he said to them,
24 "Show me a denarius! Whose image and inscription does it have?" And they answered [and] said, "Caesar's."
25 So he said to them, "Well then, give to Caesar the things of Caesar, and to God the things of God!"
26 And they were not able to catch [him] in a statement in the sight of the people, and astonished at his answer, they became silent.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("answered") has been translated as a finite verb
  • [b]. Some manuscripts have "And they said"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.