Greek word · G2878

κορβᾶν

korban

Corban

Borrowed from Hebrew/Aramaic qorbān (קָרְבָּן), 'offering, what is brought near' to God, from the root q-r-b, 'to come near'. Matthew 27:6 uses the second.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

κορβάν (Rec., T, -βᾶν), indecl. (Heb. קׇרְבָּן),

an offering, a gift offered to God: Mark 7:11 (cf. κορβανᾶς).†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Matthew 27:6

Range of meaning

Borrowed from Hebrew/Aramaic qorbān (קָרְבָּן), 'offering, what is brought near' to God, from the root q-r-b, 'to come near'. In Greek two forms appear: κορβᾶν (korban), 'a gift dedicated to God' (Mark 7:11), and κορβανᾶς (korbanas), 'the place where such gifts are stored', meaning the temple's sacred treasury. Matthew 27:6 uses the second.

Against the English

English versions say 'treasury' or 'temple treasury'. 'Treasury' alone can sound like a government finance office or a general cash box. The Greek word itself says the fund is made of things offered to God.

How it drifted

Translators reasonably give the function (treasury) rather than the Semitic loanword. The cost is that the religious sense of the name, 'offering-fund', disappears in English.

Used elsewhere in the period

Josephus (Jewish War 2.175) reports that Pilate took money from 'the sacred treasure, called korbōnas' to build an aqueduct, which caused a riot. Using that money for anything outside the temple was outrageous to Jews. Leviticus repeatedly uses qorbān for offerings (e.g. Lev 1:2); the Septuagint renders it dōron, 'gift'. Mark 7:11 shows korban as a vow formula that set property apart for God.

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 27:6 κορβανᾶν treasury

    The chief priests picked up the pieces of silver and said, “It is unlawful to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.”

    Here: A Greek form of the Hebrew/Aramaic word qorban, 'offering, thing brought near to God'. It names the sacred treasury where offerings dedicated to God were kept. The word itself marks the money in it as holy.

Mark · 1

  1. Mark 7:11 κορβᾶν, [It is] Corban,

    But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God),

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.