Matthew 5:26

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

Truly I say to you, You shall by no means come out there, till you have paid the uttermost farthing.

American King James Version (AKJV)

Truly I say to you, You shall by no means come out there, till you have paid the uttermost farthing.

American Standard Version (ASV)

Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou have paid the last farthing.

Basic English Translation (BBE)

Truly I say to you, You will not come out from there till you have made payment of the very last farthing.

Webster's Revision

Verily, I say to thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

World English Bible

Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny.

English Revised Version (ERV)

Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou have paid the last farthing.

Definitions for Matthew 5:26

Farthing - A small coin of little worth.
Thence - There; that place.
Verily - Truly; surely.

Clarke's Matthew 5:26 Bible Commentary

The uttermost farthing - Κοδραντην. The rabbins have this Greek word corrupted into קרדיונטסס kordiontes, and קונטריק, kontrik, and say, that two פרוטות prutoth make a kontarik, which is exactly the same with those words in Mark 12:42, λεπτα δυο, ο εστι κοδραντης, two mites, which are one farthing. Hence it appears that the λεπτον lepton was the same as the prutah. The weight of the prutah was half a barley-corn, and it was the smallest coin among the Jews, as the kodrantes, or farthing, was the smallest coin among the Romans. If the matter issue in law, strict justice will be done, and your creditor be allowed the fullness of his just claim; but if; while you are on the way, going to the magistrate, you come to a friendly agreement with him, he will relax in his claims, take a part for the whole, and the composition be, in the end, both to his and your profit.

This text has been considered a proper foundation on which to build not only the doctrine of a purgatory, but also that of universal restoration. But the most unwarrantable violence must be used before it can be pressed into the service of either of the above antiscriptural doctrines. At the most, the text can only be considered as a metaphorical representation of the procedure of the great Judge; and let it ever be remembered, that by the general consent of all (except the basely interested) no metaphor is ever to be produced in proof of any doctrine. In the things that concern our eternal salvation, we need the most pointed and express evidence on which to establish the faith of our souls.

Wesley's Matthew 5:26 Bible Commentary

5:26 Till thou hast paid the last farthing - That is, for ever, since thou canst never do this. What has been hitherto said refers to meekness: what follows, to purity of heart.