“Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they answered.
Parallel translations
- WEB Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” They answered, “Caesar’s.”
- KJV Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar’s.
- NKJV Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?” They answered and said, “Caesar’s.”
- NASB “Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.”
- NLT “Show me a Roman coin. Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus asks for a denarius and notes that it bears Caesar's image and inscription. The coin itself frames his answer.
Overview
By drawing attention to Caesar's image on the coin, Jesus prepares to distinguish what is owed to the state from what is owed to God. The denarius bore the emperor's likeness, marking the sphere of civil authority. The simple object becomes the means of a profound teaching about competing loyalties.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Matt 18:28But 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!’
- Matt 20:2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
- Luke 23:2And 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 25:8–12Then Paul made his defense: “I have committed no offense against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.”
- Acts 11:28One 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.)
- Luke 2:1Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken of the whole empire.
- Luke 20:22Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
- Acts 26:32And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
- Luke 3:1In 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,
- Phil 4:22All the saints send you greetings, especially those from the household of Caesar.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 20:24 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.