What does λεπτόν (leptón) mean in the Bible?
λεπτόν (leptón): The smallest monetary unit, emphasizing worthlessness yet valuable to God when given sacrificially.
Greek · G3016
λεπτόν
Coin
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λεπτόν G3016
Pronunciation leptón
What does λεπτόν (leptón) mean in the Bible?
λεπτόν (leptón): The smallest monetary unit, emphasizing worthlessness yet valuable to God when given sacrificially.
Full entry for λεπτόν (G3016) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3016?
The BSB source-word alignment has 3 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include small copper coins (2), penny (1).
Where does λεπτόν (leptón) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 12:42. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (2), Mark (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It small copper coins 2× Mark 12:42, Luke 21:2
penny 1× Luke 12:59
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Mark 12:42
Aligned rows 3
Books represented 2
Mark 1 Luke 2
Source forms
λεπτὰ 2x lepta Mark 12:42, Luke 21:2
λεπτὸν 1x lepton Luke 12:59
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Neuter Plural 2x Mark 12:42, Luke 21:2
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular 1x Luke 12:59
Evidence Summary
Greek word. The smallest monetary unit, emphasizing worthlessness yet valuable to God when given sacrificially.
Strong's G3016
Lexical occurrences 3 verses Greek text appearances 3 times Word forms 2 forms 3 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Luke 21:1–4 Source Gloss
coin
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
The smallest monetary unit, emphasizing worthlessness yet valuable to God when given sacrificially.
(λέπω, to peel),
1peeled.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
3 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Mark 12:42 Noun Accusative Plural Neuter
λεπτὰ lepta
a small piece of money
Read verse Luke 12:59 Noun Accusative Singular Neuter
λεπτὸν lepton
a small piece of money
Read verse Luke 21:2 Noun Accusative Plural Neuter
λεπτά, lepta
a small piece of money
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 2 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 2 Aligned forms 3 Case pattern Accusative (3) Number pattern Plural (2)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Accusative · Plural · Neuter Mark 12:42 · Luke 21:2 2×
Accusative · Singular · Neuter Luke 12:59 1×
Sampled Scripture Occurrences
Representative Scripture witnesses for this entry: passage, original form, and sense in context.
Additional Occurrences
Luke 12:54–59 λεπτόν leptón
Small coin
Luke 21:1–4 λεπτά leptón
Small copper coins
New Testament Witnesses
small coin
small coin
Word Origins
λεπτόν is built from this root:
λεπίς G3013
Why This Word Matters
Highlights minimal monetary value.
Highlights the minimal monetary value contrasted with maximal sacrifice.
Canonical Themes
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain