Matthew 5:26 (LSB)

Passage

Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last quadrans.

Nearby Context

Matthew 5:24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

Matthew 5:25 Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.

Matthew 5:26 Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last quadrans.

Matthew 5:27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’;

Matthew 5:28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "truly", "come", "until", "paid", "last", and "quadrans". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "truly" and "come", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 25's "Make friends quickly with your opponent at..." into verse 27's "You have heard that it was said...", so "truly" and "come" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "truly" and "come" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.