Luke 21:4

For they all contributed out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses his disciples and onlookers while observing temple offerings, speaking immediately after identifying the poor widow’s contribution in Luke 21:3 and before the disciples remark on the temple’s stone work in Luke 21:5.

The words — The Greek περισσεὸντος (perisseuontos) literally means "that which was abounding," denoting the donors' excess. The verb ἔβαλον (ebalon) translates to "they cast," describing the physical deposition of gifts into the treasury.

The thread — The tension between communal provision and personal wealth surfaces in Acts 2:44, which records believers holding everything in common, and Acts 4:34, which notes property owners selling lands to fund the community. Jesus’ earlier teaching on dividing an estate in Luke 15:12 establishes the cultural baseline of material inheritance that this contrast subverts.

Why it lands — The text requires readers to evaluate offerings by the degree of personal sacrifice rather than the face value of the gift. It commands an assessment of faithfulness that recognizes surrendering one’s livelihood as quantitatively superior to contributing from surplus.

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

For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

Cross-references

Acts 2:44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.
Luke 15:12 The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
Acts 4:34 There were no needy ones among them, because those who owned lands or houses would sell their property, bring the proceeds from the sales,
Luke 8:43 including a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all her money on physicians, but no one was able to heal her.