τρᾰπεζῑτ-ης G5133
bankers, money changers, financial professionals
In the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:27), Jesus refers to bankers or money changers—those who could receive deposits and pay interest. These financial professionals operated in the ancient marketplace, providing services like currency exchange and investment opportunities. The servant's excuse for burying his talent is exposed as inadequate precisely because even the minimal effort of depositing money with bankers would have yielded some return. The reference assumes a functioning financial system familiar to Jesus' audience.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The parable employs this term to highlight the accountability expected of those entrusted with the Master's resources. Even the most cautious course—depositing with bankers rather than risking investment—would have been better than doing nothing. The multilingual glosses—Spanish 'banqueros', French 'banquier', German preserving the Greek—all point to financial intermediaries. The term grounds Jesus' parabolic teaching in the economic realities of first-century Palestine, where banking operations were well established. 1×
AR["الصَّيَارِفَةِ"]·ben["মহাজনদের-কাছে"]·DE["τραπεζίταις"]·EN["bankers"]·FR["banquier"]·heb["שֻׁלְחָנִים"]·HI["सर्राफों"]·ID["penukar-uang"]·IT["trapezitais"]·jav["tukang-ijol-dhuwit"]·KO["환전상들-에게"]·PT["banqueiros"]·RU["менялам"]·ES["banqueros"]·SW["watoaji-riba"]·TR["bankacılara"]·urd["صرافوں-کو"]
Related Senses
H5414 1. give, bestow (1855×)H3947 1. take, seize, grasp (Qal) (940×)G2192 1. possess / have (680×)G1325 1. give, bestow (336×)H5159 1. inherited land or property (170×)G2983 1. receive, obtain (134×)H3423 1. Qal: take possession of land (130×)G2983 2. take, take up (113×)G2398 1. one's own, belonging to oneself (91×)G3860 1. hand over, deliver to custody (78×)H7998 1. spoil, plunder, booty (74×)G1325 2. be given, be granted (70×)H5414 2. put, place, set (68×)H7999a 1. pay, repay, recompense (63×)H7069 1. Buy, purchase (59×)H1892 1. vanity, futility, absurdity (58×)H5159 2. heritage as covenant portion (52×)H6299 1. redeem or ransom (Qal active) (49×)H4376 1. Sell (Qal active) (47×)H1350a 1. Redeem, buy back (46×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
τρᾰπεζῑτ-ης, ου, ὁ, Doric dialect -τας Refs 4th c.BC+, etc.: (τράπεζα 11):—money-changer, banker, Refs 5th c.BC+; οἱ ἀνεσκευασμένοι τῶν τ. broken bankers, Refs 4th c.BC+ __2 director of a state-bank, Refs 3rd c.BC+ __II τραπεζίτης Πάρις violator of hospitality, Refs __III τραπεζεῖται κύνες, ={τραπεζῆες} (see. τραπεζεύς), Hdn.Gr.Refs is found in Refs 4th c.BC+