Footnote

b Each of these coins was a lepton, the smallest Jewish coin in circulation at that time. Two lepta were the equivalent of 1/64 of a day’s wage. According to Matthew 10:29, for an assarion coin (the equivalent of eight lepta), a person could purchase two sparrows, which were among the cheapest birds used for food by the poor. So this widow was indeed poor, for she had only half the amount needed to buy a single sparrow, hardly enough for a single meal.