Luke 20:24

“Show me a denarius. ¹  Whose image ²  and inscription are on it?” ³  They said, “Caesar’s.”

"Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?"

"Show Me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?" They said, "Caesar’s."

"Show me a Roman coin. Whose picture and title are stamped on it?" "Caesar’s," they replied.

"Show me a coin. Now, this engraving, who does it look like and what does it say?"

Let me see a penny. Whose image and name are on it? And they said, Caesar’s.

"Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?" They said, "The emperor’s."

"Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?" They answered and said, "Caesar’s."

“Show me a denarius. ¹  Whose image ²  and inscription are on it?” ³  They said, “Caesar’s.”

¹ tn Here the specific name of the coin was retained in the translation, because not all coins in circulation in Palestine at the time carried the image of Caesar. In other places δηνάριον (dhnarion) has been translated simply as “silver coin” with an explanatory note.

sn A denarius was a silver coin worth approximately one day’s wage for a laborer. The fact that the leaders had such a coin showed that they already operated in the economic world of Rome. The denarius would have had a picture of Tiberius Caesar, the Roman emperor, on it.

² tn Or “whose likeness.”

sn In this passage Jesus points to the image (Grk εἰκών, eikwn) of Caesar on the coin. This same Greek word is used in Gen 1:26 (LXX) to state that humanity is made in the “image” of God. Jesus is making a subtle yet powerful contrast: Caesar’s image is on the denarius, so he can lay claim to money through taxation, but God’s image is on humanity, so he can lay claim to each individual life.

³ tn Grk “whose likeness and inscription does it have?”