penny Summary and Overview

(Gr. denarion), a silver coin of the value of about 7 1/2d. or 8d. of our present money. It is thus rendered in the New Testament, and is more frequently mentioned than any other coin (Matt. 18:28; 20:2, 9, 13; Mark 6:37; 14:5, etc.). It was the daily pay of a Roman soldier in the time of Christ. In the reign of Edward III. an English penny was a labourer's day's wages. This was the "tribute money" with reference to which our Lord said, "Whose image and superscription is this?" When they answered, "Caesar's," he replied, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's" (Matt. 22:19; Mark 12:15).

PEN'NY . This word, so translated in our English Version for the Greek denarius, is equivalent to about sixteen cents or eight pence, and was a regular day's wages. The "penny" shown to Christ bore the likeness and name of Caesar (Tiberius), who had then been emperor for seventeen or eighteen years. Matt 22:19, 2 Chr 11:21, Denarius ought to have been retained or Anglicized into denar, with a marginal note giving its precise value. See Money.

(See DRAM; DRACHMA.) The Greek silver coin, (Latin denarius, from whence the French denier,) bearing the head of the reigning Roman emperor, the date of his tribunitian power or consulate, or the number of times he was saluted emperor (Matthew 22:19-21). A labourer's day's wages (Matthew 20:2; Matthew 20:13). The good Samaritan's gift of twopence for the entertainment of the man at the inn would suffice for two days. In Revelation 6:6 "a measure (choenix, two or three pints) of wheat for a penny," implies comparative scarcity when a man's whole day's wages would only buy a day's provisions, instead of, as ordinarily, buying 16 to 20 measures.