purse

Two Biblical words have been translated as “purse.”

  1. Greek: balantion, a bag (Luke 10:4; 22:35-36).

  2. Greek: zone, properly a girdle (Matthew 10:9; Mark 6:8), a money-belt

As to our Lord's sending forth his disciples without money in their purses, the remark has been made that in this “there was no departure from the simple manners of the country. At this day the farmer sets out on excursions quite as extensive without a para in his purse; and a modern Moslem prophet of Tarshisha thus sends forth his apostles over this identical region. No traveller in the East would hestitate to throw himself on the hospitality of any village.” —Dr. William McClure Thomson, Land and the Book (1859)

Article Version: September 1, 2017

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