Lukas 7:41-42

7:41 “A certain creditor ¹  had two debtors; one owed him ²  five hundred silver coins, ³  and the other fifty. 7:42 When they could not pay, he canceled ⁴  the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

Matius 18:24

18:24 As ⁵  he began settling his accounts, a man who owed ten thousand talents ⁶  was brought to him.

[7:41]  ¹ sn A creditor was a moneylender, whose business was to lend money to others at a fixed rate of interest.

[7:41]  ² tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[7:41]  ³ tn Grk “five hundred denarii.”

[7:41]  sn The silver coins were denarii. The denarius was worth about a day’s wage for a laborer; this would be an amount worth not quite two years’ pay. The debts were significant: They represented two months’ pay and one and three quarter years’ pay (20 months) based on a six day work week.

[7:42]  ⁴ tn The verb ἐχαρίσατο (ecarisato) could be translated as “forgave.” Of course this pictures the forgiveness of God’s grace, which is not earned but bestowed with faith (see v. 49).

[18:24]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[18:24]  ⁶ sn A talent was a huge sum of money, equal to 6,000 denarii. One denarius was the usual day’s wage for a worker. L&N 6.82 states, “a Greek monetary unit (also a unit of weight) with a value which fluctuated, depending upon the particular monetary system which prevailed at a particular period of time (a silver talent was worth approximately six thousand denarii with gold talents worth at least thirty times that much).”