κῆνσος

From the study of Mark 12:14

Range of meaning

A Greek spelling of the Latin census. In Roman administration it meant first the registration of persons and property, and then the tax assessed from it, especially the tributum capitis, a per-head poll tax. In the NT it occurs only in Matt 17:25; 22:17, 19 and Mark 12:14.

Against the English

KJV 'tribute' and modern 'taxes' (BSB, WEB, ESV) are broad. The Greek names one specific Roman tax. NIV's 'imperial tax' captures that it went to the emperor. 'Taxes' in general can suggest ordinary civic taxation, which loses the political charge.

How it drifted

English 'tax' is a neutral civic word. To first-century Judeans this tax was a symbol of foreign rule, introduced by a census that had provoked an armed revolt.

Used elsewhere in the period

Josephus describes the census of Quirinius in 6 CE, when Judea came under direct Roman rule. He reports that Judas the Galilean urged revolt, calling payment of tribute to Rome slavery and the acceptance of mortal masters besides God (Antiquities 18.1–10; Jewish War 2.117–118). Some witnesses of Mark use the Greek ἐπικεφάλαιον ('head-money') here, which confirms the poll-tax sense.

From the study of Matthew 17:25

Range of meaning

A loanword from Latin census: the registration of persons and property, and from that the direct tax assessed on it, especially the poll-tax (tributum capitis) imposed on provincial subjects.

Against the English

KJV "tribute", YLT/NASB "poll-tax", BSB/ESV/NIV "tax(es)". "Poll-tax" is the most precise. "Tax" is accurate but loses the sense of a payment that marks you as a subject.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used in Matt 22:17, 19 ("the coin for the census-tax") and Mark 12:14 for the tax paid to Caesar. Rome's census in Judea in AD 6 provoked the revolt of Judas the Galilean (Josephus, Antiquities 18.1-10). A Latin word in a Greek sentence points to Roman rule.

From the study of Matthew 22:17

Range of meaning

A Greek borrowing of the Latin census. It first meant the Roman registration of people and property, and then the tax assessed on that basis, chiefly the head tax (Latin tributum capitis) levied on each adult in a province.

Against the English

KJV and YLT 'tribute' keeps the sense of a payment made by a conquered people. NASB 'poll-tax' and NIV 'imperial tax' are specific. BSB, WEB, ESV and NLT 'taxes' turn a particular, politically loaded levy into taxation in general.

How it drifted

'Taxes' in modern English suggests income, sales or property taxes paid to one's own government. The Latin loanword itself told a first-century hearer that this was Rome's money, owed because Rome had conquered them.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the New Testament it occurs only in Matt 17:25, 22:17 and 22:19 (the 'coin of the kēnsos') and in Mark 12:14. Luke's parallel (20:22) uses the ordinary Greek phoros, 'tribute'. In Mark 12:14 a few witnesses (Codex Bezae, Θ, 565, and some Old Latin and Syriac copies) read epikephalaion, 'head tax', which shows how early readers understood the word. Josephus describes the census of 6 CE under Quirinius and the revolt it provoked (Antiquities 18.1–10; Jewish War 2.117–118). Tacitus reports that Judea asked for the tribute burden to be reduced under Tiberius (Annals 2.42).