Talent
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
G5007 is a Greek noun for a talent, a large unit of weight and, by extension, a substantial sum of money. In Matthew 18:24, a servant owes ten thousand talents, an overwhelming amount that magnifies the king's mercy when the debt is forgiven and exposes the servant's cruelty toward a fellow servant.
Reader summary
Full entry for τάλαντον (G5007) · Open the biblical lexicon
G5007 is a Greek noun for a talent, a large unit of weight and, by extension, a substantial sum of money. In Matthew 18:24, a servant owes ten thousand talents, an overwhelming amount that magnifies the king's mercy when the debt is forgiven and exposes the servant's cruelty toward a fellow servant.
The BSB source-word alignment has 14 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include talents (8), - (3), talent (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 18:24. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (14).
G5007 is a Greek noun for a talent, a large unit of weight and, by extension, a substantial sum of money. In Matthew 18:24, a servant owes ten thousand talents, an overwhelming amount that magnifies the king's mercy when the debt is forgiven and exposes the servant's cruelty toward a fellow servant. In Matthew 25:15, a master entrusts five, two, and one talent to servants according to ability before traveling.
The servants then act under the prospect of the master's return and accounting. English later developed talent as a word for personal aptitude, but that is not the noun's lexical meaning in these passages. G5007 opens teaching on incalculable mercy, entrusted resources, faithful action, fear, and final accountability. It corrects readings that reduce the parable to discovering innate skills, sanctify unlimited profit, or shame poor, disabled, traumatized, cautious, or less visibly productive people as though economic output measured their worth before God.
G5007 occurs in Matthew's parables as a very large monetary amount. The unforgiving servant owes an impossible debt, while the returning master entrusts differing sums and later settles accounts. Narrative scale and parabolic purpose matter more than converting the talent into a precise modern price.
As he began the settlements, a debtor owing ten thousand talents was brought to him.
The servant's debt of ten thousand talents is deliberately enormous, preparing the contrast between received mercy and refused mercy.
To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent—each according to his own ability. And he went on his journey.
The master entrusts differing large sums to three servants according to each one's ability before departing.
So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what belongs to you.’
The one-talent servant explains that fear led him to hide the entrusted sum and return it unused when the master came back.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Large monetary unit representing the highest denomination of currency in NT financial contexts.
Large monetary unit representing the highest denomination of currency in NT financial contexts.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
15 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a talent of silver or gold
Read versea talent of silver or gold
Read versea talent of silver or gold
Read versea talent of silver or gold
Read versea talent of silver or gold
Read versea talent of silver or gold
Read versea talent of silver or gold
Read versea talent of silver or gold
Read versea talent of silver or gold
Read versea talent of silver or gold
Read versea talent of silver or gold
Read versea talent of silver or gold
Read versea talent of silver or gold
Read versea talent of silver or gold
Read versea talent of silver or gold
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.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 3 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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
τάλαντον is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G5007 supplies monetary scale to two different Matthean warnings. In Matthew 18, ten thousand talents make the servant's liability functionally unpayable. The king's cancellation therefore establishes the moral center: mercy received must transform how the servant treats a neighbor with a far smaller debt. The amount is not a financial plan but a narrative measure of astonishing forgiveness.
In Matthew 25, talents are entrusted property during an absence. Two servants act and report gains; the third hides the money because he fears the master and describes him as harsh. The parable presses hearers toward faithful readiness for the returning Lord, but responsible interpretation should not turn every feature into a direct endorsement of ancient elite economics.
Nor should it identify a person's worth with returns. The sums differ from the start, and the story evaluates response to entrusted responsibility within its own eschatological setting. Modern English invites a useful but secondary analogy to abilities, time, relationships, and opportunity, provided teachers admit that G5007 itself means money. Application must leave room for rest, disability, recovery, hidden faithfulness, and seasons where survival is not failure.
Jesus' teaching confronts fear and unfaithfulness while refusing the prosperity claim that greater profit proves greater divine love.
Matt.25.15
G5007 originally denotes what is weighed and then a talent as a large weight or corresponding monetary sum. The modern English sense of natural aptitude developed later, so translations retain talent as an ancient unit whose scale must be explained contextually.
Old Testament stewardship, debt release, entrusted property, wisdom about work, and accountability before God provide broad canonical background. The New Testament parables intensify mercy and eschatological readiness without creating a universal investment strategy.