The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew17:24–27

The Temple Tax

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Matthew 17:24–27 — The Temple Tax. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

24

After they had arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Does your Teacher pay the two drachmas?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de autōn Elthontōn eis Kapharnaoum hoi lambanontes ta didrachma prosēlthon tō Petrō kai eipan hymōn Ho didaskalos ou telei ta didrachma

Word by word21 · parsed
δὲdeAfterG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
αὐτῶνautōntheyG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἘλθόντωνElthontōnhad arrivedG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Plural
ἔρχομαι: to come or go A genitive absolute, “they having come,” which quietly marks a return rather than an arrival at a strange place. Benson notes that the collectors did not press the demand until Jesus reached Capernaum, “the ordinary place of his residence”; Pulpit calls it “his own city.” The demand is made where a man is enrolled, which is why Peter and no other disciple is approached.
εἰςeisinG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ΚαφαρναοὺμKapharnaoumCapernaumG2584
√ Καπερναούμ — Capernaum (iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
λαμβάνοντεςlambanontescollectorsG2983
√ λαμβάνω — while G138 (αἱρέομαι) is more violent, to seize or remove))VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
λαμβάνω: to take, receive The participle of receiving, not of exacting. Pulpit argues from this word choice that the impost was ecclesiastical, since the officers of the state are called publicans and behaved otherwise. Gill adds the Talmudic idiom for the same office, those who collect the shekels, and notes that tables were set up in every town on the fifteenth of Adar.
τὰtaof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
δίδραχμαdidrachmatwo-drachma [tax]G1323
√ δίδραχμον — a double drachma (didrachm)NounAccusative Neuter Plural
δίδραχμον: a double drachma The half shekel of the sanctuary, traced by Ellicott, Barnes, JFB, Gill, Poole and Pulpit to Exodus 30:13-16, where it is ransom money for the numbered Israelite. Its whole point in that statute is that it is paid for a soul, which is why Pulpit can ask how the Redeemer should ransom himself. Its mention here, and not the word κῆνσος, is the hinge of the entire scene.
προσῆλθονprosēlthoncameG4334
√ προσέρχομαι — to approach, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ΠέτρῳPetrōto PeterG4074
√ Πέτρος — a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037 (λίθος))NounDative Masculine Singular
Πέτρος: a rock The question is put to the householder. Benson and JFB both reason that the house was Peter’s and that Jesus lodged there, which is why payment is later provided for two men only and not for the Twelve.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εἶπανeipanaskedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ὑμῶνhymōn{Does} yourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
διδάσκαλοςdidaskalosTeacherG1320
√ διδάσκαλος — an instructor (genitive case or specially)NounNominative Masculine Singular
διδάσκαλος: an instructor, teacher They name him by the lowest true title he holds. Ellicott hears in their question the suspicion that “the Prophet of Nazareth” might evade the rate, so they were watching for another transgression. The irony of the unit is set here: the one addressed as Teacher will answer as Son.
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
τελεῖteleipayG5055
√ τελέω — to end, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τελέω: to end, complete, pay in full Present indicative, habitual: “is he not in the habit of paying?” The verb means to bring to completion, so paying a tax is discharging it to the end. Barnes and JFB both read the question as presupposing a payment expected but not legally compelled, what JFB calls in modern phrase a voluntary assessment. The same root τέλος supplies the word for customs duty in the next verse.
τὰtatheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
δίδραχμαdidrachmatwo drachmasG1323
√ δίδραχμον — a double drachma (didrachm)NounAccusative Neuter Plural
25

“Yes,” he answered. When Peter entered the house, Jesus preempted him. “What do you think, Simon?” He asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs and taxes: from their own sons, or from others?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Nai Legei Kai elthonta eis tēn oikian ho Iēsous proephthasen auton Ti soi dokei Simōn legōn apo tinōn hoi basileis tēs gēs lambanousin telē ē kēnson apo autōn tōn huiōn ē apo tōn allotriōn

Word by word34 · parsed
ΝαίNaiYesG3483
√ ναί — yesParticle
ναί: yes A bare particle, answered before it is examined. JFB reckons that if Peter knew the bag was empty, the word was an act of faith; Pulpit reads it instead as anxious haste, a wish to keep the peace after the passion prediction. The text says only ναί, and leaves the motive with the reader.
ΛέγειLegeihe answeredG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ΚαὶKaiWhenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐλθόνταelthonta[Peter] enteredG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveAccusative Masculine Singular
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
οἰκίανoikianhouseG3614
√ οἰκία — properly, residence (abstractly), but usually (concretely) an abode (literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
προέφθασενproephthasenpreemptedG4399
√ προφθάνω — to get an earlier start of, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
προφθάνω: to get an earlier start, anticipate The verb does the theological work of the verse without any comment, and Ellicott observes that it is nowhere else used of our Lord's teaching: Jesus answers a conversation he was not present at. Barnes draws exactly that inference, that he was acquainted with what Peter had said; Henry says Christ spoke first to prove that no thought can be withheld from him. The omniscience that finds a coin in a fish is already at work in the doorway.
αὐτὸνautonhimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ΤίTiWhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Neuter Singular
σοιsoivvvG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Singular
δοκεῖdokeido you thinkG1380
√ δοκέω — compare the base of G1166 (δεικνύω)) of the same meaningVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
δοκέω: to seem, suppose Impersonal with the dative: “how does it seem to thee?” Gill expands it as an appeal to Peter’s own reason and judgment; Pulpit calls it the Socratic method, making the listener teach himself.
ΣίμωνSimōnSimonG4613
√ Σίμων — Simon (iNounVocative Masculine Singular
Σίμων: Simon Vocative, the family name rather than the name Christ gave him. JFB reads the choice as familiarity; Pulpit, as a claim on his attention. Either way the rock is addressed as the fisherman he is about to be sent out as.
λέγωνlegōnHe askedG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἀπὸapoFromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τίνωνtinōnwhomG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounGenitive Masculine Plural
οἱhoi{do} theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
βασιλεῖςbasileiskingsG935
√ βασιλεύς — a sovereign (abstractly, relatively, or figuratively)NounNominative Masculine Plural
βασιλεύς: a sovereign, king “The kings of the earth” is a deliberate limiting phrase: earthly kings, as Barnes glosses. Pulpit sees the implied contrast with the King of heaven carried by the words that follow. The analogy is drawn from the wrong court on purpose, so that Peter will supply the right one himself.
τῆςtēsof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
γῆςgēsearthG1093
√ γῆ — soilNounGenitive Feminine Singular
λαμβάνουσινlambanousincollectG2983
√ λαμβάνω — while G138 (αἱρέομαι) is more violent, to seize or remove))VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
τέληtelēcustomsG5056
√ τέλος — properly, the point aimed at as a limit, iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
τέλος: a limit, a due Indirect taxation on goods. The plural is technical and commercial; Ellicott and Pulpit both locate it at the town gate rather than the census roll.
ἢē[and]G2228
√ ἤ — disjunctive, orConjunction
κῆνσονkēnsontaxesG2778
√ κῆνσος — properly, an enrollment ("census"), iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
κῆνσος: an enrollment, poll tax The rarest word in the unit (the Verifier finds it in four verses in all) and the pivot of the argument. Its other three occurrences are the coin question of Matthew 22:17 and 22:19 and Mark 12:14, where the answer is “render to Caesar.” Here it is named only as the foil: the tax actually in dispute is the temple rate of v. 24, and JFB warns that reading the two as one tax destroys the whole scene.
ἀπὸapofromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
αὐτῶνautōntheirG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
τῶνtōn[own]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
υἱῶνhuiōnsonsG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounGenitive Masculine Plural
υἱός: a son Not τέκνα (children at large) but sons, the heirs of the house. Ellicott insists the word cannot be reduced to natural relationship alone and points to the children of the kingdom of Matthew 13:38; Geneva argues the opposite, that natural sons and not subjects are meant. The Greek genitive “from their own sons” lets both readings stand, and the next verse turns on that very ambiguity.
ἢēorG2228
√ ἤ — disjunctive, orConjunction
ἀπὸapofromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀλλοτρίωνallotriōnothersG245
√ ἀλλότριος — another's, iAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀλλότριος: another’s, belonging to another A relatively rare adjective (thirteen verses) that elsewhere names the sojourner in a land not his own (Acts 7:6, Hebrews 11:9) and what is not ours to steward (Luke 16:12). Peter, as Ellicott observes, answers out of the popular Galilean hatred of direct taxation as the badge of subjugation, and so hands Jesus the category of the outsider without noticing where it will be turned.
26

“From others,” Peter answered. “Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said to him.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Apo tōn allotriōn de Eipontos Ara¦Ge hoi huioi eisin eleutheroi ho Iēsous ephē autō

Word by word14 · parsed
ἈπὸApoFromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀλλοτρίωνallotriōnothersG245
√ ἀλλότριος — another's, iAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀλλότριος: another’s, belonging to another Peter repeats the word he was handed. Gill is careful that he does not mean foreigners or captives but native subjects, everyone outside the royal household. The answer is obvious and, as Pulpit says, brings him to the desired point.
δέdevvvG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΕἰπόντοςEipontos[Peter] answeredG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Singular
ἔπω: to speak, say Genitive absolute again, “when he had said,” which keeps the exchange rapid and keeps Peter the one who states the principle.
Ἄρα¦ΓεAra¦GeThenG686
√ ἄρα — a particle denoting an inference more or less decisive (as follows)Particle
ἄρα: a particle of inference The whole weight of the argument rests on this small word. It does not introduce new information; it draws the necessary consequence of what Peter has just granted, and leaves the identification of the Son unspoken. Gill notes that Jesus “leaves Peter to make the application.”
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
υἱοίhuioisonsG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Plural
υἱός: a son The word Peter had confessed one chapter earlier, when he named him the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16). Cambridge draws the deduction as a question: shall he whom Peter rightly named the Son of God pay tribute to his Father’s temple? The scene is the fiscal consequence of that confession, which is also why Ellicott thinks the claim could not yet be made openly (Matthew 16:20).
εἰσινeisinareG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐλεύθεροίeleutheroiexemptG1658
√ ἐλεύθερος — unrestrained (to go at pleasure), iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἐλεύθερος: free, unrestrained The great Pauline word for liberty here does its first work on a coin. Because the half shekel of Exodus 30:12-16 was atonement money, a ransom for the soul of the man numbered, Pulpit reasons that this impost of all imposts could not properly be demanded of him: he had come to give his life a ransom for others, not to buy back his own. JFB reduces the inference to four words in the mouth of Christ: the tax is not due by me, I am free.
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἔφηephēsaidG5346
√ φημί — to show or make known one's thoughts, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
φημί: to make known one’s thoughts Imperfect, and the last word of the exchange before the command; the declaration is left standing in the room.
αὐτῷautōto himG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
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.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de hina mē skandalisōmen autous poreutheis eis thalassan bale ankistron kai aron ton prōton ichthyn anabanta kai anoixas autou to stoma heurēseis statēra labōn ekeinon dos autois anti emou kai sou

Word by word31 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἵναhinaso thatG2443
√ ἵνα — compare G3588 (ὁ))Conjunction
ἵνα: in order that Purpose clause governing the whole command: everything that follows exists to avoid a stumbling block, not to satisfy a debt.
μὴmēvvvG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
σκανδαλίσωμενskandalisōmenwe may not offendG4624
√ σκανδαλίζω — to entrap, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active1st Person Plural
σκανδαλίζω: to entrap, to cause to stumble The verb of the trap laid in the road. Ellicott hears a half playful irony, since Peter had lately worried aloud that the Pharisees were offended (Matthew 15:12), and sets the motive beside Paul’s rule in Romans 14:21. Gill and Poole both draw the same practical law: the right may be waived where insisting on it would injure the gospel. Note the first person plural: the concession is made jointly, and the freedom asserted in v. 26 is not revoked but declined.
αὐτούςautousthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
πορευθεὶςporeutheisgoG4198
√ πορεύομαι — to traverse, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
πορεύομαι: to traverse, to go Aorist passive participle used actively, “having been set going.” The errand sends Peter back to his own trade and his own lake, which Henry makes the whole lesson: help comes in the way of obedience, in the course of our usual calling.
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
θάλασσανthalassanthe seaG2281
√ θάλασσα — the sea (genitive case or specially)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
βάλεbalecastG906
√ βάλλω — to throw (in various applications, more or less violent or intense)VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
βάλλω: to throw Aorist imperative, a single decisive cast. There is no second attempt in the command.
ἄγκιστρονankistrona hookG44
√ ἄγκιστρον — a hook (as bent)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἄγκιστρον: a hook A fisherman's hook, from a root meaning bent, and pointedly not his net. Pulpit notices that the fisherman is told not to use his net: line and hook take one fish, the first, so that nothing can be credited to a large catch. The miracle is made narrow on purpose.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἆρονarontakeG142
√ αἴρω — to lift upVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
πρῶτονprōtonfirstG4412
√ πρῶτον — firstly (in time, place, order, or importance)AdverbSuperlative
πρῶτον: firstly, first Superlative adverb: the first one up, not the best one. The precision is what makes the sign unmistakable.
ἰχθὺνichthynfishG2486
√ ἰχθύς — a fishNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἀναβάνταanabantayou catchG305
√ ἀναβαίνω — to go up (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveAccusative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiWhenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀνοίξαςanoixasyou openG455
√ ἀνοίγω — to open up (literally or figuratively, in various applications)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
αὐτοῦautouitsG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
στόμαstomamouthG4750
√ στόμα — the mouth (as if a gash in the face)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
στόμα: the mouth Literally a gash or opening in the face. The coin is found in the one part of the creature that opens, and Gill, Barnes and Pulpit all note how ordinary it is for a fish to seize a bright object; the wonder lies not in the swallowing but in the knowing and the summoning.
εὑρήσειςheurēseisyou will findG2147
√ εὑρίσκω — to find (literally or figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
εὑρίσκω: to find Future indicative in the middle of a string of imperatives. Jesus does not say perhaps, or look; the outcome is stated as fact before Peter leaves the room, which is why Barnes reads the verse as proof of divine attributes either way, whether the coin was foreknown or provided.
στατῆραstatēraa four-drachma coinG4715
√ στατήρ — a stander (standard of value), iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
στατήρ: a stander, a standard of value Four drachmas, one shekel, two half shekels: the exact sum and not a coin more. Ellicott draws from that exactness the poverty of the company, penniless after weeks in the north, and Henry insists the power and the poverty of Christ be named together. The Lord of the sea has no shekel in the bag and owns the fish.
λαβὼνlabōnTake [it]G2983
√ λαμβάνω — while G138 (αἱρέομαι) is more violent, to seize or remove))VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἐκεῖνονekeinon[and]G1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounAccusative Masculine Singular
δὸςdosgive [it]G1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
δίδωμι: to give Aorist imperative. The freedom of v. 26 ends in a gift, not a protest.
αὐτοῖςautoisto themG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἀντὶantiforG473
√ ἀντί — opposite, iPreposition
ἀντί: opposite, instead of The preposition of exchange and substitution. Because Exodus 30:12-16 made the half shekel a ransom paid for a life, JFB reads the ἀντί here as redemption language and says that in that very view Jesus was free; Pulpit hears the same ἀντί that stands in Matthew 20:28, a ransom in place of many. The unit ends on the smallest word in it, and that word is substitution.
ἐμοῦemouMy taxG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
σοῦsouyoursG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The receivers of the two drachmas — 17:24

⚙ Matthew alone records this, and JFB thinks he kept it because it belonged to his own town and his own lake. Everything in the scene depends on one coin name. The men at the door are not τελῶναι, publicans, but οἱ τὰ δίδραχμα λαμβάνοντες, the receivers of the two drachmas, and Pulpit builds a whole argument on that: government officers would not have asked mildly in an interrogative form, and the civil tax is never called δίδραχμα but always κῆνσος. Ellicott, Barnes, JFB, Gill, Poole, Cambridge and Pulpit alike trace the coin to the half shekel of Exodus 30:13-16, paid by every male Israelite of twenty years and up, paid into the treasury, spent on the daily sacrifice and the fabric of the house. Gill adds the Mishnaic tract Shekalim and the tables set up in every town on the fifteenth of Adar; Ellicott and Cambridge add Josephus, that after Jerusalem fell Vespasian kept the tax and diverted it to the temple of Capitoline Jupiter. On its legal force the sources differ honestly: JFB calls it voluntary but expected, a voluntary assessment; Barnes and Benson call it voluntary outright; Ellicott (v. 26) says the Pharisees had lately made it compulsory. Geneva alone reads the coin as Caesar's and draws a lesson about civil obedience from it, and that, on the philology the others supply, is the wrong tax. And οὐ τελεῖ asks with the negative that expects yes: Geneva's own gloss says the questioner does not deny, but asks.

ii. The king's own sons, and who is a stranger — 17:25-17:26

⚙ Peter answers before he consults anyone. JFB reads the quick ναί generously, as faith with an empty bag; Pulpit reads it anxiously, as a man newly warned of the cross who wants no fresh offence. Then the hapax προέφθασεν: Jesus reaches the subject first, and Barnes draws the inference that he knew a conversation he had not attended, while Henry says he spoke first to prove that no thought can be withheld from him. The question is put in the vocabulary of the wrong court on purpose. τέλη are tolls on goods, what Pulpit calls vectigalia and Ellicott the octroi; κῆνσος is the Roman head tax, the coin of Matthew 22:17. Neither is the tax in dispute. Peter, answering out of what Ellicott calls the popular Galilean view (direct taxation as the badge of subjugation, the grievance that stoned Rehoboam's officer and armed Judas of Galilee), says: from the ἀλλότριοι, those belonging to another. Then Ἄραγε closes the syllogism, and Gill notes that Jesus leaves Peter to make the application. Cambridge puts the unstated premise as a question: shall he whom Peter has just named the Son of God pay tribute at his Father's house? JFB puts the conclusion in four words and confines it strictly to Christ, since our Lord never mixes himself with his disciples in speaking of relation to God. Ellicott resists that narrowing from the plural υἱοί and the “we” of v. 27, and adds a second objection: if only Christ is meant, then every Israelite who paid stands in Scripture as an alien rather than a son. Pulpit adds the sharpest reading of all, and it is about the statute, not the analogy: the half shekel was atonement money, a ransom of souls, so how should the ransom pay for himself. The word Jesus actually used is not the fiscal exempt but ἐλεύθεροι, free, the word Rome used of sons against slaves.

iii. The hook, the stater, and the word instead-of — 17:27

⚙ The freedom is asserted and then declined. ἵνα μὴ σκανδαλίσωμεν is a purpose clause about a trap in the road, and Ellicott sets it beside Paul's rule that it is good to surrender even a freedom we might claim if a brother stumbles (Romans 14:21). Ellicott also weighs why the claim could not simply be pressed: to refuse on personal grounds would be to publish the Messiahship he had just told them to keep quiet (Matthew 16:20), and to refuse on general grounds would hand the ungenerous an excuse to give nothing while shocking the devout. Poole draws the plain rule, that we may yield our own right but never God's, and adds that Christ chose rather to work a miracle than to give a scandal. The errand is made deliberately narrow: not the net but ἄγκιστρον, a hook, the only occurrence of the word in the New Testament, and not any fish but the first that comes up. Pulpit observes that Christ creates nothing here, neither the fish nor the coin, but by coincidence makes both serve, and it also passes on, with due scepticism, the tradition that marked the john dory or the haddock with Peter's fingerprints, noting that neither fish lives in that lake. Gill divides the wonder into omniscience and omnipotence and refuses to decide whether the coin was formed or found; Barnes reaches the same fork and thinks the finding the more probable, remarking that fish bite at bright things readily enough. Henry will not let the power be named without the poverty. Ellicott counts the purse: back from weeks in the north, not so much as a stater between them. And the στατήρ is exact, four drachmas, two half shekels, enough for two and no one else, which is why Poole can dismiss the Roman argument for Peter's primacy by pointing out that Capernaum was simply Peter's town and Peter the only man asked. The last word is ἀντί, instead of, and both JFB and Pulpit hear the ransom of Exodus 30:12 in it, Pulpit adding the ἀντί of Matthew 20:28. Then the account stops without telling us that Peter went.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Read as it stands, this is the smallest possible enactment of the whole gospel, done for two men over the price of two half shekels. The statute behind the coin (Exodus 30:12-16) is not a building fund first; it is ransom money, a payment made for a numbered soul so that there be no plague among them. That is why the question who owes it is not pedantic. Jesus does not argue that the temple has no claim, nor that the rate is unjust, nor that religion should be cheap. He argues from sonship: in every kingdom on earth the levy falls on those belonging to another and not on the sons, and therefore, if this is my Father's house, then I am not another, and I am free. Then, being free, he pays. Note what he does not do: he does not pay out of the bag, because there is nothing in the bag. He pays out of the sea, and the sea has to be told. The King who cannot find a shekel among his friends summons the coin from a fish's mouth, and that single stroke says both things at once: this man is poor, and this man is Lord of the deep. Henry is right that the power and the poverty belong in the same sentence. And the last word is the decisive one. He does not say “for us.” He says ἀντὶ ἐμοῦ καὶ σοῦ, instead of me and instead of thee, two separate substitutions held apart, because Peter pays what he owes and Jesus pays what he does not. That is the shape of everything that follows in this Gospel: the exempt one steps into the place of the liable one, out of his own resources, so that no one stumbles. The half shekel that ransomed a man's life is paid by the man who will become the ransom (Matthew 20:28). We offer that reading to be tested, and we mark our own uncertainty plainly: we do not know, and the text does not say, whether the freedom of v. 26 belongs to Christ alone (JFB) or extends to the sons of the kingdom with him (Ellicott). The one thing the passage will not permit is the reading that makes the freedom an excuse to give nothing, since the freeman here is the only one in the story who pays for somebody else.

This line is our own fallible synthesis and not a verse of Scripture: he was free, and so he paid, and he paid instead of Peter as well as instead of himself.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The half shekel of the sanctuary: ransom money, not a building fund structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Nothing in the unit is quoted, yet the whole exchange presupposes one statute. Exodus 30:13 fixes the half shekel of the sanctuary for every man numbered, and Exodus 30:12-16 calls it atonement money, a ransom for his soul. Ellicott, Barnes, JFB, Gill, Poole, Cambridge and Pulpit independently identify the δίδραχμα of v. 24 with that half shekel, the Attic drachma reckoned at four to the shekel. Gill denies that the Exodus levy was ever meant as a perpetual annual law, and traces the yearly custom instead through the collection for the repair of the house under Joash (2 Chronicles 24:9) into settled practice by Christ's day. Pulpit adds that the original money went into the framework and pillars of the tabernacle. This is the link that makes Pulpit's question in v. 26 possible: the impost was in its nature a ransom of souls, and so the least fitting of all payments to demand from the one who came to give his life a ransom for others. Greek and Hebrew share no Strong's numbers, so no verbal tier is available here, and none is claimed.

Exodus 30:13 · Exodus 30:16 · 2 Chronicles 24:9

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so shared Strong's lexemes are impossible by definition and no verbal link is claimed. The basis is the named institution: the didrachmon of Matthew 17:24 is identified as the half shekel of Exodus 30:13-16 by Ellicott, Barnes, JFB, Gill, Poole, Cambridge and Pulpit, with 2 Chronicles 24:9 cited by Ellicott and JFB as the later collection.

κῆνσος: the other tax, the one about Caesar verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ The word Jesus uses for the civil levy in v. 25, κῆνσος, is a genuine rarity: the Verifier finds it in four verses of the New Testament in all. The other three are the trap about the coin, Matthew 22:17 and 22:19 with its parallel at Mark 12:14, where the answer is to render Caesar's things to Caesar. Matthew 22:17 also shares the verb δοκεῖ (G1380) with 17:25, the same “what do you think” that opens both questions, and Mark 12:14 shares διδάσκαλος (G1320), the title the collectors use here. The two scenes are therefore linked at the level of Matthew's own vocabulary, and their answers differ because their taxes differ: JFB says the whole teaching of this remarkable scene depends on the distinction, and Pulpit notes that the political tax is never called δίδραχμα but always census. In chapter 17 Jesus asserts a freedom and waives it; in chapter 22 he grants a debt and commands it paid.

Matthew 22:17 · Matthew 22:19 · Mark 12:14

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2778 κῆνσος (in 4 vv), the rarest lexical link in the unit, present in every ref listed; plus G1380 δοκέω (in 61 vv) shared with Matthew 22:17 and G1320 διδάσκαλος (in 58 vv) shared with Mark 12:14. All refs are New Testament, so the link is Greek to Greek. No quotation is claimed, only a rare verbal link.

ἀλλότριος: the word Peter reaches for, and where else it falls structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Peter's answer turns on ἀλλοτρίων (G245), a relatively uncommon adjective the Verifier finds in thirteen verses. Elsewhere it names precisely the condition of not belonging: Abraham sojourning in a land not his own (Hebrews 11:9), the seed dwelling in a strange land four hundred years (Acts 7:6), the goods that are another man's and so only ever entrusted (Luke 16:12), the voice a sheep will not follow because it is a stranger's (John 10:5). Barnes, Gill, JFB and Cambridge all insist the word here means non-family rather than foreign nation. The irony the commentators do not draw, and we offer as ours: Peter reaches for the vocabulary of the outsider, and the New Testament uses that same vocabulary of the patriarchs and of Israel in Egypt. Ellicott feels the weight of it from the other side, protesting that a reading which makes the Israelites who paid into “strangers” contradicts the uniform filial language of Scripture. We claim a real lexical link and a real motif, and no quotation.

Hebrews 11:9 · Acts 7:6 · Luke 16:12 · John 10:5

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G245 ἀλλότριος (in 13 vv) in every ref listed, twice in each of Hebrews 11:9, Acts 7:6 and Luke 16:12; Hebrews 11:9 and Acts 7:6 also share G1093 γῆ (in 223 vv). The lexeme is uncommon but the connection is a shared motif of not-belonging rather than a quotation, so the tier is deliberately held below verbal.

Sons of the King: the sonship the argument stands on structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The inference of v. 26 only works if a sonship is already in evidence. The Old Testament supplies it in two registers. The covenant with David makes the king's heir a son: I will be his father, and he shall be my son (2 Samuel 7:14), and the royal decree of Psalm 2:7 names the day of that begetting; Gill notices the royal line explicitly, reasoning that as son of David and heir to his throne Jesus would be exempt on civil grounds too. Israel itself is called God's firstborn son in Exodus 4:22, which is exactly why Ellicott protests against a reading that reclassifies paying Israelites as strangers. Cambridge frames the deduction as a question about the Son of God, and Pulpit says Matthew records this scene because in it Christ claimed a royal position, Son in his Father's house. No quotation formula appears in the unit, and Greek and Hebrew share no lexeme numbers, so the link is structural.

2 Samuel 7:14 · Psalm 2:7 · Exodus 4:22

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): shared Strong's numbers are impossible, so nothing verbal is claimed. The basis is the shared institution of royal and national sonship that the argument of Matthew 17:25-26 presupposes, with Gill naming the Davidic line and Ellicott appealing to Israel's filial standing. No citation formula is present in the unit.

Whose house the temple is structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The whole force of “then the sons are free” rests on the house belonging to the Father rather than to its officers. Solomon already put the paradox at the dedication: will God indeed dwell on the earth, when the heavens cannot contain him, how much less this house (1 Kings 8:27). Isaiah 66:1 sharpens it: heaven is his throne and the earth his footstool, so where is the house that you would build for him. JFB says plainly that the receivers were ignorant of his relation to the Lord of the temple, and Pulpit reads the miracle as vindicating a royal character while showing him obedient to the Law yet above it. The link is thematic: Matthew records no quotation here, and the Greek of the unit shares no lexemes with the Hebrew of these verses.

1 Kings 8:27 · Isaiah 66:1

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's lexeme is available and none is claimed. The basis is the shared theme that the temple is God's house and not man's, which is the premise the sonship argument of Matthew 17:26 requires; JFB and Pulpit both state the premise in those terms. No quotation.

Provision drawn out of the sea typological

⚙ A figural reading, offered as such. The Psalms give dominion over the sea to the son of man, the fish of the sea and whatever passes along the paths of the sea (Psalm 8:8), and make the great and wide sea with its innumerable creatures a place where God opens his hand and they are filled (Psalm 104:25-28). Jonah 1:17 is the one place in the Hebrew Scriptures where the Lord appoints a particular fish for a particular man, and Matthew himself elsewhere makes Jonah a sign (Matthew 12:40), though he does not do so here. Pulpit, commenting on this verse, says the miracle demonstrated that he was Lord of heaven and earth and sea, and Benson reports Macknight's judgment that this particular miracle was chosen because it showed him Son of the Monarch who rules the universe. That much is widely held. The specific figure of Psalm 8 and Jonah standing behind the hook is our own construction and we mark it as such: the unit names neither.

Psalm 8:8 · Psalm 104:25 · Jonah 1:17

basis: Cross-Testament figural reading, not a verbal link: Greek and Hebrew share no Strong's numbers and Matthew 17:27 quotes nothing. The recorded basis is the shared pattern of God commanding and providing out of the sea, which Pulpit and Benson (citing Macknight) read as the point of this sign. The dominion-over-the-sea reading is widely held; the particular appeal to Psalm 8:8 and Jonah 1:17 is our own and is novel here.

Was there a standing law? The contested pedigree of the annual rate flagged: verify source

⚙ Flagged, because our own sources contradict each other. Ellicott, Barnes, JFB and Cambridge treat the annual half shekel as the continuation of a single institution, citing Exodus 30:13-16 with the collection of 2 Chronicles 24:6 and 24:9. Gill denies the continuity at each joint: the Exodus order does not appear to have been designed for a perpetual law or a yearly payment, the collection under Joash fixed no sum and was entirely free and voluntary, and the third of a shekel in Nehemiah 10:32 was an ordinance the Jews made for themselves as necessity required and not by divine order, with which, he says, it did not even agree (he reports Aben Ezra's contrary view, that it was an addition to the half shekel). Benson calls the rate in Christ's day a thing established by custom rather than any law. Ellicott states, without a citation in the text available to us, that the Pharisees carried a seven day debate in the Sanhedrin and made the payment compulsory. We record the disagreement and claim nothing about the legal pedigree of the rate.

2 Chronicles 24:6 · Nehemiah 10:32

basis: The connection is asserted by the commentators, not by the text, and they disagree: Ellicott, JFB and Cambridge cite 2 Chronicles 24:6 and 24:9 as the tax's continuation, while Gill denies that Exodus 30, 2 Chronicles 24 and Nehemiah 10:32-33 form one standing statute at all, and Benson attributes the annual rate to custom. Ellicott's Sanhedrin vote and commemorative festival are uncited in the excerpt available to us. Cross-Testament in any case, so no verbal tier is possible.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

I am free: the exemption claimed before it is waived ancient/widely-held

⚙ The redemptive-historical centre of the unit is a syllogism Jesus makes Peter finish. Kings take their dues from those belonging to another and not from their own sons; this levy upholds the Father's house; therefore the Son does not owe it. JFB puts the conclusion in the first person and confines it deliberately to Christ, refusing to let believers claim a general exemption from dues for sacred service, since that would contradict Paul. Cambridge frames the same deduction as a question about the Son of God whom Peter had just confessed. Barnes reconstructs the reasoning in full and notes that it only works if the tax is religious rather than civil, so the whole Christological claim hangs on the philology of δίδραχμα against κῆνσος. Gill offers both routes, Davidic heir and Lord of the temple. Pulpit says Matthew kept the incident precisely because here Christ claimed a royal position, Son in his Father's house, and adds that the point had to be made clear now that the Messiahship and the divine nature had been openly asserted, lest paying without explanation mislead his followers. And the word Jesus used is ἐλεύθεροι, free, which Cambridge notes Rome used of sons against slaves. This is the ancient and widely held reading, recorded by Ellicott, Barnes, JFB, Gill, Poole, Cambridge and Pulpit alike.

Matthew 16:16 · Psalm 2:7 · 2 Samuel 7:14 · John 2:16

Instead of me and thee: the ransom paying the ransom money ancient/widely-held

⚙ The statute behind the coin called it a ransom for a soul (Exodus 30:12-16), and the last word of the unit is ἀντί, in place of. JFB makes the connection explicitly, suggesting the payment was a redemption of the person paid for, in which view Jesus certainly was free, and insisting that our Lord says not “for us” but instead of me and thee, distinguishing the exempted one from his non-exempted disciple. Pulpit recalls the same original design as a ransom of souls, asks how he could give money in expiation of himself who had come to give his life a ransom for others, and points to the identical preposition in Matthew 20:28, a ransom in place of many. So the grammar of substitution appears here first over two half shekels and is not softened afterwards: what is enacted in a coin from a fish is enacted at the cross in a life, and in both the free one stands in the place of the liable one. The identification of ἀντί here with the ransom of Exodus 30 and Matthew 20:28 is the reading of JFB and Pulpit, and we follow it rather than invent it.

Exodus 30:12 · Matthew 20:28 · Mark 10:45 · 1 Peter 1:18

The poverty of the Lord of the sea ancient/widely-held

⚙ Two facts sit in one verse and neither may be softened. Ellicott counts the company's purse and finds it empty, not so much as a stater between them after weeks on the road; the same verse has the sea told which fish to send. Henry refuses to separate them: the power and the poverty of Christ should be named together, and he draws the pastoral consequence, that if providence calls us to be poor like our Lord we may trust his power. Gill reads the sign as proof of omniscience, omnipotence and dominion over the creatures, and in the same breath as a declaration of how poor he was, that he had not a shekel for such an occasion without a miracle. Barnes reaches the same conclusion by either fork of the question, whether the coin was foreknown or created. Pulpit observes that Christ created nothing here but made existing things serve, and that in obeying the Law he showed himself superior to it. The riches and the poverty of the same person is Paul's own way of preaching the incarnation (2 Corinthians 8:9), and the reading is old and common; our only addition is to notice that the poverty is what makes the substitution visible, since a man with money in the bag could have paid without anyone learning who he was.

2 Corinthians 8:9 · Matthew 8:20 · Philippians 2:7

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. (1) Scope: four verses, Greek, found only in Matthew, as JFB, Cambridge and Pulpit all note. Pulpit counts it among the three miracles peculiar to this Gospel.

(2) The largest exegetical fork is lexical, not doctrinal: is the δίδραχμα of v. 24 the sanctuary half shekel or a civil levy? Ellicott, Barnes, JFB, Gill, Poole, Cambridge and Pulpit say the former, and Pulpit lists the reasons (the collectors are not called publicans, the demand is interrogative and mild, the civil tax is always census, and the answer of v. 26 would not follow). Geneva reads it as Caesar's edict, and Poole reports that some doubted. Barnes states outright that his reconstruction of the argument depends on the tax being religious. We follow the majority and flag that the Christological reading of vv. 25-26 stands or falls with it.

(3) The extent of the exemption is genuinely disputed among our sources. JFB restricts it to Christ alone; Ellicott extends it to the children of the kingdom on the evidence of the plural and the “we” of v. 27; Pulpit says the plural is required by the comparison though the reference is to Christ. Geneva glosses “children” as natural children and not subjects; Ellicott says the first word cannot be merely natural relationship. We have not resolved this and do not claim to.

(4) Whether a miracle is recorded at all: Ellicott points out that the narrative never says Peter went and found it so, that the story is told for the teaching rather than the wonder, and that men have inferred the miracle from a literal reading of the promise. Pulpit notes the same abrupt ending and is confident it all came to pass. Gill and Barnes leave open whether the coin was created in the fish or providentially placed there. We record all three positions and endorse none.

(5) Secondhand data: the Josephus references (Ant. iii. 8, Ant. xvi. 6, Ant. xvii. 8, Wars vii. 6), the Mishnaic tract Shekalim, the Talmudic glosses Gill cites, Edersheim's figure of about £75,000 a year, Macknight as quoted by Benson, Aben Ezra, and Crassus carrying off the treasury in 54 BC all reach us only through the commentators and have not been checked against primary texts. Ellicott's account of a seven day Sanhedrin struggle in which the Pharisees made the rate compulsory and kept an annual commemorative festival carries no citation in the text available to us; it is flagged in the threads. The money values quoted differ between sources and eras (fifteen pence in Benson, Gill and Poole; about thirty cents in Barnes; about half a crown for the stater in Gill against Poole's half crown estimate), and Gill notes Galilean shekels were reckoned at half the Judean value, which we have not reconciled.

(6) Text and transcription: the interlinear prints Καφαρναοὺμ where the lexicon entry and the English tradition give Capernaum, and prints the inferential particle as Ἄρα¦Γε with a joining mark, which we read as the single expression ara ge. The Ellicott, Gill, Pulpit, Barnes and Poole entries were supplied to us capped, so quotations from them are drawn only from the portions we were given. Poole's notes on vv. 24, 25 and 26 consist of a cross-reference to his note on v. 27, which is why he is quoted once and at the end.

(7) The Pulpit Commentary's report that tradition marked the john dory or the haddock with Peter's fingerprints is passed on by Pulpit itself with the observation that neither fish is found in the Lake of Gennesareth. It is folklore, not evidence, and we repeat it only as that.

(8) Our own synthesis, everything marked ⚙, is fallible and offered to be tested. Where we have gone beyond the commentators (the Psalm 8 and Jonah figure behind the hook, and the observation that the empty purse is what makes the substitution visible) we have said so at the point of claim.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)