Mar 12:44 For all [they] did cast in of their abundance...
Mar 12:44 For all [they] did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, [even] all her living.
Alternative: Because all of them from the same surplus let go but she from her scarcity let go in the same way of all she had, her whole way of living.
Wordplay: As I have tried to capture in the alternative above, Christ creates two parallels here that are lost in translation. One parallel compare all of the other people with all of the widows living. The other parallels the same surplus with the same action. While she did the same thing on surface, she was letting go something very different.
Hidden meaning: This idea of "letting go" is a standard feature of Christ's teaching that is lost in English. The word used here ballo is a very common way that Christ expresses this idea forcefully. However, another word for a less forceful way of letting go, aphiêmi, is also extremely common. This later word is what is usually the sources when we see the word "forgive" in English translation though if is usually translated in the NT as "leave" as in leaving a place, or "suffer" as in allowing someone to do something. The common idea connecting them all is "letting go."
As we can see here, both words are used by Christ in a similar sense of "letting go" of things. The important point here isn't that people physically threw or cast their offerings, like a ring toss at a carnival, but letting go of things.
Thematically and Linguistically Related Verse(s): Luk 21:3 is the parallel verse in Luke, but despite the similarities in translation and in vocabulary it is constructed very differently.
Vocabulary:
"For" comes from gar (gar) which is the introduction of a clause explaining a reason or explanation: "for," "since," and "as." In an abrupt question it means "why" and "what."
"All" is from pas (pas), which means "all," "the whole," "every," "anyone," "all kinds," and "anything."
"Their" and "her" are from autos (autos), which means "the same," and the reflexive pronouns, "myself," "yourself," "himself," "herself," "itself," or the oblique case of the pronouns, "him," "her," and "it." It also means "one's true self," that is, "the soul" as opposed to the body and "of ones own accord."
"Abundance" is from perisseuo (perisseuo) which means "to be over and above," "to go beyond," "to abound in," "to be superior," and, in a negative sense, "to be superfluous."
"Cast" is from ballo (ballo), which means "to throw," "to let fall," "to put," "to pour," or "to cast."
"But" is from de (de), which means "but." It is the particle that joins sentences and an adversarial way.
"Want" is from husterêsis (hysteresis), which is a NT form of the word husterêma, which means "shortcoming,""deficiency," and "need."
"Had" is from echô (echo), which means "to have," "to hold," "to possess," "to keep," "to have charge of," "to maintain," "to hold fast," "to bear," "to keep close," "to keep safe," and "to have means to do."
"[Even] all" is from holos (holos), which means "the whole," "entire," "the universe," and "safe and sound." This is not the word translated as "all" elsewhere in this verse (and most commonly in the NT), which is above, pas.
"Living" is from bios (bios), which means "mode of life," "livelihood," "means of living," "the world we live in," "a biography," and "caste." Familiar in English, where we use it to refer to the environment, it is not the word used for "life" normally in the Gospel. This is the first time it appears and it is only used again in Christ's words in Luke. Several other terms are used by Christ for "life," most notably zoe in phrases such as "eternal life."
