12:43a

Jesus called His disciples to Him and said: There is implied information here. Jesus saw what the poor widow gave to God. In some languages it may be helpful to make this explicit. For example:

When Jesus saw this, he called his disciples to him and said

Use a natural way in your language to connect this verse with 12:42.

called: The word called does not indicate that Jesus shouted to his disciples. They were probably right there with him. He asked them to come near to him so that he could tell them something.

disciples: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as disciples means “learners” who are in a relationship with a teacher. The learners commit themselves to their teacher in order to learn from him and live according to his teaching and example. In the New Testament disciples often lived with their teacher and followed him wherever he went.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

students/learners
-or-
apprentices
-or-
followers

See how you translated this term at 2:15b. See also disciple in the Glossary for more information.

12:43b

Truly I tell you: Jesus often used the phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Truly I tell you to begin a statement that he wanted to emphasize. When he began a statement with these words, he was asking people to listen closely.

Here are some other ways to show this emphasis:

Listen to this!
-or-
I tell you this:
-or-
I assure you

See how you translated this phrase in 3:28a. In addition to the translation options given there, you may be able to use an emphatic word within Jesus’ statement. For example:

This widow has truly/really put in more than all the others.

this poor widow has put more than all the others into the treasury: Here Jesus used a figurative way to praise the widow and her gift. She did not literally give more than the others, but what she gave had more value to God than all the other gifts. Jesus explained the reason for that in 12:44. She was more generous than the others, because she gave all that she had. This made her gift more valuable than all the other gifts, even though the actual amount was much less than the other people gave.

If people in your language do not understand the meaning correctly, you may want to express the meaning literally. For example:

What this poor widow gave has more value to God than all the money that the others have given.

more than all the others: This phrase implies that the widow gave more than all of the others put together. (Most English versions translate this Greek word literally as “all.” Several commentators also suggest that “all the others put together” could have been Jesus’ meaning. However, another possible interpretation would be that the widow gave more than any of the other people. Turner & Bock (vol 2, page 15) supports this interpretation.)

the others: The phrase the others refers to the other people who put money into the treasury.

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