King James Bible
"Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing."
Jesus uses this solemn formula to emphasize the gravity and certainty of what follows. The phrase marks His authoritative teaching style, distinguishing His words from typical rabbinic discourse. Refers to imprisonment (from verse 25's legal context) with emphatic double negative in Greek, stressing the impossibility of release. The statement warns of inescapable consequences when reconciliation is neglected. The farthing (Greek: kodrantēs) was the smallest Roman coin, worth about 1/64 of a denarius. This hyperbole emphasizes complete payment of every debt, suggesting that divine justice demands full satisfaction—pointing readers back to the urgency of settling disputes quickly.