Bible Strands
Luke 20:24
“Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they answered.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses religious leaders who approached him with duplicity by demanding they produce a denarius. He poses a direct question about the coin's owner to establish the terms of his response.
The words — The Greek δεῖξάτὲ (deixate) means "do show," and εἰκόνα (eikona) translates to "image." Jesus uses these terms to force the listeners to physically present and identify the stamped features of the currency.
The thread — The denarius appears in Matthew 18:28 as a debt owed by a servant and in Matthew 20:2 as a contracted day's wage. The title Caesar surfaces in Luke 2:1 during Augustus's imperial census decree.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to acknowledge the visible ownership stamped on the coin before evaluating the political trap. It demands a factual recognition of earthly authority's claim before addressing the subsequent question of divine obligation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Cesar’s.
Cross-references
- Matthew 18:28 But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’
- Matthew 20:2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
- Luke 2:1 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken of the whole empire.
- Luke 3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
- Luke 20:22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
- Luke 23:2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man subverting our nation, forbidding payment of taxes to Caesar, and proclaiming Himself to be Christ, a King.”
- Acts 11:28 One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted through the Spirit that a great famine would sweep across the whole world. (This happened under Claudius.)
- Acts 25:8 Then Paul made his defense: “I have committed no offense against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.”
- Acts 26:32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
- Philippians 4:22 All the saints send you greetings, especially those from the household of Caesar.