NIV 365-Day Devotional Plan (2017)Sample

The Widow’s Offering

Lepta, the nearly worthless coins put into the offering by the widow (Mark 12:42).

(Mark 12:41-44) The Widow’s Offering. The treasury was located in the court of women and contained 13 trumpet-shaped receptacles for mandatory tithes and voluntary gifts. The genuine greatness of the widow’s humble devotion (yet another sign of the faithfulness of some in Jerusalem, Mark 12:34) contrasts with the ostentatious behavior of the teachers of the law, which Jesus had just denounced.

(Mark 12:42) Small Copper Coins. The smallest coins in circulation, worth less than one-hundredth of a denarius.

(Mark 12:43-44) Jesus’ final word in the temple is to commend this widow’s exemplary devotion to God (compare Mark 10:21–23,28).

Taken fromNIV Zondervan Study Bible