KJV: And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?
YLT: And they having come to Capernaum, those receiving the didrachms came near to Peter, and said, 'Your teacher -- doth he not pay the didrachms?' He saith, 'Yes.'
Darby: And when they came to Capernaum, those who received the didrachmas came to Peter and said, Does your teacher not pay the didrachmas?
ASV: And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received the half-shekel came to Peter, and said, Doth not your teacher pay the half-shekel?
| Ἐλθόντων | Having come |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Genitive Masculine Plural Root: ἔρχομαι Sense: to come. |
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| δὲ | now |
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Parse: Conjunction Root: δέ Sense: but, moreover, and, etc. |
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| Καφαρναοὺμ | Capernaum |
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Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: Καπερναούμ Sense: a flourishing city of Galilee situated on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee or Lake of Gennesaret, near the place where the Jordan flows into the lake. |
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| προσῆλθον | came |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural Root: προσέρχομαι Sense: to come to, approach. |
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| οἱ | those |
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Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Plural Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| δίδραχμα | didrachmas |
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Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Plural Root: δίδραχμον Sense: a didrachmon or double drachma, a silver coin equal to two Attic drachmas or one Alexandrian, or one half a shekel. |
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| λαμβάνοντες | collecting |
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Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Plural Root: λαμβάνω Sense: to take. |
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| τῷ | - |
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Parse: Article, Dative Masculine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| Πέτρῳ | to Peter |
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Parse: Noun, Dative Masculine Singular Root: Πέτρος Sense: one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. |
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| εἶπαν | said |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural Root: λέγω Sense: to speak, say. |
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| διδάσκαλος | Teacher |
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Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: διδάσκαλος Sense: a teacher. 2 in the NT one who teaches concerning the things of God, and the duties of man. |
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| ὑμῶν | of you |
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Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive 2nd Person Plural Root: σύ Sense: you. |
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| τελεῖ | does he pay |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: τελέω Sense: to bring to a close, to finish, to end. |
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Greek Commentary for Matthew 17:24
This temple tax amounted to an Attic drachma or the Jewish half-shekel, about one-third of a dollar. Every Jewish man twenty years of age and over was expected to pay it for the maintenance of the temple. But it was not a compulsory tax like that collected by the publicans for the government. “The tax was like a voluntary church-rate; no one could be compelled to pay” (Plummer). The same Greek word occurs in two Egyptian papyri of the first century a.d. for the receipt for the tax for the temple of Suchus (Milligan and Moulton‘s Vocabulary). This tax for the Jerusalem temple was due in the month Adar (our March) and it was now nearly six months overdue. But Jesus and the Twelve had been out of Galilee most of this time. Hence the question of the tax-collectors. The payment had to be made in the Jewish coin, half-shekel. Hence the money-changers did a thriving business in charging a small premium for the Jewish coin, amounting to some forty-five thousand dollars a year, it is estimated. It is significant that they approached Peter rather than Jesus, perhaps not wishing to embarrass “Your Teacher,” “a roundabout hint that the tax was overdue” (Bruce). Evidently Jesus had been in the habit of paying it (Peter‘s). [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 17:24
Matthew refers to Zechariah 11:12. These pieces were shekels of the sanctuary, of standard weight, and therefore heavier than the ordinary shekel. See on Matthew 17:24. Reckoning the Jerusalem shekel at seventy-two cents, the sum would be twenty-one dollars and sixty cents. This was the price which, by the Mosaic law, a man was condemned to pay if his ox should gore a servant (Exodus 21:32). Our Lord, the sacrifice for men, was paid for out of the temple-money, destined for the purchase of sacrifices. He who “took on him the form of a servant” was sold at the legal price of a slave. [source]
From κόλλυβος , the rate of exchange. These changers sat in the temple, in the court of the Gentiles, to change the foreign coins of pilgrims into the shekel of the sanctuary for payment of the annual tribute. See on Matthew 17:24. [source]
The only instance in the N.T. of this old word for a coin of 65.5 grains about the value of the common δηναριυς dēnarius (about eighteen cents), a quarter of a Jewish shekel. The double drachma (διδραχμον didrachmon) occurs in the N.T. only in Matthew 17:24. The root is from δρασσομαι drassomai to grasp with the hand (1 Corinthians 3:19), and so a handful of coin. Ten drachmas would be equal to nearly two dollars, but in purchasing power much more. [source]
Only here in the New Testament. The kindred noun κέρμα , money, which occurs only in John 2:15, is from κείρω , to cut into bits, and means therefore small coin; “small change,” of which the money-changers would require a large supply. Hence changers of money means, strictly, dealers in small change. Matthew and Mark use λυβιστής (see John 2:15), of which the meaning is substantially the same so far as regards the dealing in small coin; but with the difference that κόλλυβος , the noun from which it is derived, and meaning a small coin, is also used to denote the rate of exchange. This latter word therefore gives a hint of the premium on exchange, which John's word here does not convey. The money-changers opened their stalls in the country towns a month before the feast. By the time of the first arrivals of passover-pilgrims at Jerusalem, the country stalls were closed, and the money-changers sat in the temple (see on Matthew 17:24; see on Matthew 21:12; see on Mark 11:15). John's picture of this incident is more graphic and detailed than those of the Synoptists, who merely state summarily the driving out of the traders and the overthrow of the tables. Compare Matthew 21:12, Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45, Luke 19:46. [source]