τάλαντον

From the study of Matthew 18:24

Range of meaning

At first a unit of weight: a 'balance-load,' about 26 to 36 kg depending on the standard used. It then became the largest unit of account for silver or gold. In the common Attic standard one talent = 60 minas = 6,000 drachmas. The Roman denarius was treated as roughly equal to a drachma. It was not a coin. It was an accounting figure, like 'a million.'

Against the English

Most English versions keep 'talent,' which tells a modern reader almost nothing about the size of the sum. The NIV (2011) has 'bags of gold' and the NLT has 'millions of dollars.' Both try to give a sense of scale, but they lose the exact figure and its link to the denarius count in v. 28.

How it drifted

English 'talent' meaning a natural ability comes from medieval and later allegorical readings of the parable of the talents (Matt 25:14–30), where the money was taken to stand for God-given gifts. A modern reader may therefore hear 'talent' as an ability, or picture a modest coin.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX: Exod 25:39; 38:24–27 (talents of gold and silver for the tabernacle); 2 Sam 12:30; Esth 3:9 (Haman offers 10,000 talents of silver to the royal treasury). Josephus (Antiquities 17.317–320) says the whole of Herod the Great's kingdom, after division among his sons, yielded about 900 talents a year: Archelaus 600, Antipas 200, Philip 100. Josephus (Ant. 14.78) also says the Romans took more than 10,000 talents from Judea in a short time after Pompey. Polybius 21.17 records the war indemnity forced on Antiochus III after he lost to Rome as 15,000 talents.

From the study of Matthew 25:15

Range of meaning

Originally a set of scales or a weight. In the classical and Hellenistic world it was the largest standard unit of weight, and of money weighed by it. The Attic talent was about 26 kg and was reckoned at 6,000 drachmas. Since a drachma was roughly equal to a denarius, a talent equalled about 6,000 denarii. A denarius was a labourer's day wage (Matt 20:2), so one talent was something like 16–20 years of full-time labour. It never meant an aptitude or skill in ancient Greek.

Against the English

In modern English 'talent' means natural ability ('she's very talented'). That meaning did not exist in the first century. Most English versions keep the word 'talents,' which today makes readers picture abilities. The NIV ('bags of gold') and NLT ('bags of silver') replace it with money language to avoid this.

How it drifted

The English sense of 'natural gift' comes from this parable. Medieval preachers and writers read the talents allegorically as God-given gifts. From the late Middle Ages the word 'talent' itself took on the meaning 'mental endowment, aptitude' in Latin, French and English (the OED traces this sense to the parable). The interpretation became the dictionary meaning, and readers now carry that meaning back into the text.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Septuagint, talanton translates Hebrew kikkar, the large weight used for temple gold and silver (e.g. Exod 25:39; 38:24–27) and for tribute (2 Kgs 18:14). Josephus counts royal revenues in talents. Herod Antipas's annual income from Galilee and Perea was 200 talents (Antiquities 17.318). Elsewhere in Matthew, the servant who owes 10,000 talents (18:24) owes an impossible, king-sized debt. Luke's similar parable uses the much smaller mina, 1/60 of a talent (Luke 19:13).

From the study of Matthew 25:20

Range of meaning

Originally a pair of scales or a balance, then the weight measured on it. In the biblical period it meant a fixed heavy weight (roughly 26–36 kg, depending on the standard) and the sum of money that weight of silver or gold represented. On the common Attic standard one talent = 6,000 drachmas or denarii. Matthew 20:2 makes a denarius a day's pay for a labourer, so one talent was about 6,000 days' wages, around 20 years of work. Five talents was about a century of a labourer's wages.

Against the English

BSB, KJV, ESV, NASB, WEB and YLT transliterate it as "talents." Today that word means natural aptitude, which is the exact opposite of the point here. NIV ("bags of gold") and NLT ("bags of silver") avoid the modern sense but lose the idea of a fixed and enormous unit. NIV's "gold" also clashes with v.18, where the money is called argyrion, "silver."

How it drifted

Latin talentum passed into English with its monetary meaning. Medieval and early modern preaching read this parable allegorically, so the talents came to stand for God-given abilities. That sense took over, and English "talent" now chiefly means natural gift (the OED traces the figurative sense to the parable itself). The English word drifted because of this very passage.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) uses τάλαντον for Hebrew kikkar, the talent of 3,000 shekels (Exod 25:39; 38:25–26 [LXX 39:2–3]; 1 Kgs 10:10, 14). Josephus and Greek papyri use it constantly for large sums: tribute, royal revenue, estates. Matthew 18:24 uses "ten thousand talents" as a deliberately impossible debt.