Word study
Coin
5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: coins, coin. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “coin” or one of its forms.
Compare the Greek words side by side
Greek words (New Testament)
- δραχμή drachmḗa drachmatranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1406Noun · Translated: silver coins 1, coin 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Luke 15:8 Or what woman who has ten silver coins and loses one of them does not light a lamp, sweep her house, and search carefully until she finds it?
Luke 15:9 And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors to say, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost coin.’
- λεπτόν leptóna small piece of moneytranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3016Noun · Translated: small copper coins 2, penny 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Mark 12:42 Then one poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amounted to a small fraction of a denarius.
Luke 21:2 and He saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.
- στατήρ statḗra Jewish shekeltranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4715Noun · Translated: four-drachma coin 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Matthew 17:27 “But so that we may not offend them, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the first fish you catch. When you open its mouth, you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for My tax and yours.”
- νόμισμα nómismamoney, cointranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G3546Noun · Translated: coin 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Matthew 22:19 Show Me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought Him a denarius.
- κέρμα kérmaa small cointranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G2772Noun · Translated: coins 1Full study and its 1 verse →
John 2:15 So He made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle. He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
What the Bible says about coin: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Short definition: Dodson Greek Lexicon (2010, public domain). Full entry: G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922, public domain). Strong’s Greek Dictionary (1890) in the edition by Ulrik Sandborg-Petersen (CC0). These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.