Question: How many silver coins did the Good Samaritan give to the innkeeper for the care of the wounded traveler?
Answer: Two. (Luke 10:30-37)
Comments: The currency left by the "Good Samaritan" has been translated many ways. The KJV reads "two pence" The CEV, The Message, NIV, NLT render "two silver coins." The Amplified Bible, ESV, NASB, NKJV, NRSV and RSV choose not to translate but rather keep it as "denarii."
"On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.'" (Luke 10:35), NASB)
A denarii was a Roman silver coin in New Testament era. The word occurs 16 times in the New Testament. The coin first appeared around 211 BCE during the Roman Republic concurrent with the Second Punic War. Most carried the likeness of a Roman emperor. It literally menans "containing ten" as it took its name from it being equal to ten "asses." At the time of Jesus, it weighed 3.9 grams (a theoretical weight of 1/84 of a Roman pound). It was the most common coin produced for circulation but was slowly debased until its replacement by the antoninianus.
Classical historians regularly claim that in the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire the daily wage for an unskilled laborer and common soldier was 1 denarius without tax, or about $20 (US) in bread. The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard also suggests that a denarius was then the ordinary pay for a day's wages. (Matthew 20:2-13)
Thus, the Samaritan left an ample amount of money to tend the wounded.
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