The silver coin of daily life was the denarius, the ASV’s “shilling”, and it was a working man’s full day’s pay: the vineyard laborers agree on exactly “a shilling a day” (Matt 20:2). Small change was copper, the penny (two sparrows, Matt 10:29), the farthing, and the widow’s “two mites, which make a farthing” (Mark 12:42). The Roman poll-tax was paid in the denarius too: “Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a denarius”, the coin bearing Caesar’s image and superscription (Matt 22:19–21). Luke’s “pound” (the mina) was a larger unit of account, in the rabbinic reckoning a hundred denarii.
Daily life in Bible times
The coins of daily life
Money & coins
Sources, trace every one
Every cited verse, in full. Tap any reference to open it in the reader.
- Matthew 20:2bsb
He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
- Mark 12:42bsb
Then one poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amounted to a small fraction of a denarius.
- Matthew 22:19bsb
Show Me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought Him a denarius.
On contested questions we show every major view, attributed and cited, and pick no winner. Answers are synthesized from primary sources, truth you can trace, not opinion.