21:3a

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. It indicates that the statement was important and totally reliable. It also indicates that people should listen carefully to it.

The word you is plural here. Jesus was about to tell people what he wanted them to learn from the widow’s offering. His statement in 21:3–4 was surprising to most people. He taught them that God valued the small gift of the poor widow more than the large gifts of the rich people.

Some other ways to translate Truly I tell you are:

Truly I tell you
-or-
I can guarantee this truth (God’s Word)
-or-
I solemnly assure you
-or-

⌊You may think that this woman has given less than the others. But⌋ the truth is that…

He said: Jesus probably spoke to his disciples here. In some languages it may be necessary to make that explicit. For example:

he said ⌊to his disciples⌋

The Berean Standard Bible places the words He said after “Truly I tell you.” In Greek, these words occur at the beginning of 21:3. Place the words He said where it is natural in your language.

21:3b

this poor widow has put in more than all the others: Here Jesus used a figurative way to praise the widow and the gift that she had given. She did not literally give more money than the others, but what she gave had more value to God than all the other gifts. Jesus explained the reason for this in 21:4.

In some languages people may not understand this figurative use correctly. If that is true in your language, you may translate the meaning directly. For example:

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

more than all the others: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as more than all the others is literally “more than all.” This phrase has two possible meanings:

(a) She gave more than the combined gifts of all the others. (Her gift had more value to God than all of those other gifts combined.)

(b) She gave more than any other individual person gave. (Her gift had more value to God than any of the other gifts.)

Since this comparison is figurative, either meaning is acceptable. However, option (a) is more emphatic. Some ways to translate it are:

this poor widow has put in more than all of the others together
-or-
this poor widow has put in very much, the others have only put in a little
-or-
the gift that the poor widow has put in surpasses/exceeds what the others put in

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