noun · neuter
talantem
Strong’sG5007
a talent of silver or gold
stem talant-14 times in the New Testament1 of 6 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
τάλαντον denotes a talent, either a fixed unit of weight for gold or silver, or, more commonly in the New Testament, a large sum of money equal in value to that weight of gold or silver 124. In the New Testament it is used specifically of large sums of money in this sense 1.
The word originally meant a balance or pair of scales, the instrument used for weighing, and only secondarily came to mean the weighed amount, and then the sum of money corresponding to that weight 123. This scale-sense belongs to earlier, non-biblical Greek usage rather than to its meaning in the biblical text 3.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
τάλαντον, -ου, τό
[in LXX for כִּכָּר;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G5007 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidtal'-an-ton
equivalent to G5342); a balance (as supporting weights), i.e. (by implication) a certain weight (and thence a coin or rather sum of money) or "talent"
Fromneuter of a presumed derivative of the original form of τλάω (to bear;
King Jamestalent.
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
balance, Ζεὺς.. τὸ τ. ἐπιρρέπει ἄλλοτε ἄλλως Refs 6th c.BC+: in this sense used by Refs 8th c.BC+ only in plural, pair of scales, ἔχον ὥς τε τάλαντα γυνή.., ἥ τε σταθμὸν ἔχουσα καὶ εἴριον ἀμφὶς ἀνέλκει ἰσάζουσα Refs 8th c.BC+; especially of the scales in which Zeus weighed the fortunes of men, χρύσεια πατὴρ ἐτίταινε τ. Refs; ἐπὴν κλίνῃσι τ. Ζεύς, i.e. when he decides the issue of battle,Refs 4th c.BC+; of the scales of justice, δίκης κατέκειτο τάλαντα Refs 3rd c.BC+: so in singular, δίκας ῥέπει τάλαντον Refs 5th c.BC+
2 tax paid for the use of the public scales, Refs 6th c.BC+
II anything weighed,
II.1 a definite weight, talent, in Refs 8th c.BC+ always of gold, δέκα χρυσοῖς τάλαντα Refs 8th c.BC+; χρυσοῦ.. εὐεργέος ἑπτὰ τ. Refs 8th c.BC+: from the order of the prizes in Refs 8th c.BC+ and other passages its weight was probably not great,Refs 4th c.BC+
II.2 in post-Refs 8th c.BC+ was both a commercial weight (differing in different systems), and also the sum of money represented by the corresponding weight of gold or silver; τοῖσι μὲν (of the subjects of Darius) ἀργύριον ἀπαγινέουσι εἴρητο Βαβυλώνιον σταθμὸν τ. ἀπαγινέειν, τοῖσι δὲ χρυσίον ἀπαγινέουσι Εὐβοϊκόν· τὸ δὲ Βαβυλώνιον τ. δύναται Εὐβοΐδας (ὀκτὼ καὶ add. Reiz) ἑβδομήκοντα μνέας Refs 5th c.BC+; τ. Ἀττικόν, Αἰγιναῖον, etc., Refs 4th c.BC+
II.2.a of money, τ. ἀργυρίου Refs 5th c.BC+; μνᾶ ἀπὸ τοῦ τ. Refs
II.2.b of weight, τὸ τ. τὸ ἐμπορικόνRefs 4th c.BC+; iron, Refs 3rd c.BC+; cloth, Refs 3rd c.BC+
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
Every form this word takes in Biblang, with the Greek it corresponds to and how often the New Testament uses it.
| Job in the sentence case | one singular | more than one plural |
|---|---|---|
| subject or object direct | talantem | talanteim |
| of, belonging to genitive | talanteu | talanteiu1×ταλάντων |
| to, for dative | talante | talantei |
Tinted cells are forms the New Testament never uses, so there is no Greek to show against them — but they are still correct Biblang, built from the slots below like any other.
Why these forms, and no others — the slots that make them
talante is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
14 occurrences, every one of them listed
talanteiu“talents”of, belonging togenitive plural1×
Matthew 18:24… sunairarō prosferita auto henos ofeiletos murioi talanteiu.… settlements, a debtor owing ten thousand talents was brought to him.
talanteim10×
Matthew 25:15kai ho men dōata pente talanteim ho de duo ho de henem, …To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to …
Matthew 25:16poreuirantos tos teim pente talanteim labarantos ergazeta en autei kai kerdainata …… servant who had received the five talents went at once and put them …
Matthew 25:20kai prosercharantos tos teim pente talanteim labarantos prosferata alloseim pente talanteim legarōntos; …… servant who had received the five talents came and presented five more. ‘Master …
Matthew 25:20… pente talanteim labarantos prosferata alloseim pente talanteim legarōntos; Kurior, pente talanteim mi paradōasa; …… said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
Matthew 25:20“talents”… alloseim pente talanteim legarōntos; Kurior, pente talanteim mi paradōasa; ide alloseim pente talanteim …… and presented five more. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
Matthew 25:20“talents”… talanteim mi paradōasa; ide alloseim pente talanteim kerdainama.… you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
Matthew 25:22prosercharantos de kai tos teim duo talanteim legata; Kurior, duo talanteim mi paradōasa; …… servant who had received the two talents also came and said, ‘Master, you …
Matthew 25:22… teim duo talanteim legata; Kurior, duo talanteim mi paradōasa; ide alloseim duo talanteim …… Master, you entrusted me with two talents. See, I have gained two more.’
Matthew 25:22“talents”… talanteim mi paradōasa; ide alloseim duo talanteim kerdainama.… you entrusted me with two talents. See, I have gained two more.’
Matthew 25:28… kai dōavar to echarōnto teim deka talanteim;… to the one who has ten talents.
talantem3×
Matthew 25:24prosercharantos de kai tos tem henem talantem labarēntos legata; Kurior, gnōskama sin hoti …… servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew …
Matthew 25:25kai fobirantos apercharantos kruptama tem talantem su en ta gēa; ide echasō …… and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have …
Matthew 25:28airavar oun apo autou tem talantem kai dōavar to echarōnto teim deka …Therefore take the talent from him and give it to …