“Two sparrows sold for a penny”
Matthew 10:29
Cultural referenceSettledJesus
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. (Matthew 10:29 BSB)
What it sounds like today
Sparrows as generic small creatures.
The cultural key
Sparrows were the cheapest flesh in the market, the protein of the destitute, sold skewered. The coin is the assarion, a sixteenth of a day's wage. Luke's parallel adds the market's own math: five sparrows for two pennies, with the fifth thrown in free: a creature so worthless it rounds to nothing.
Recovered meaning
The bird literally given away as a freebie does not hit the ground unnoticed by God. The argument runs to you: 'you are of more value than many sparrows.'
Parallels: Luke 12:6–7