Bible dictionaries

Purse

What Bible dictionaries say about “Purse”, one article after the other.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary & Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

Purse - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

(1.) Gr. balantion, a bag (Luke 10:4; 22:35, 36).

(2.) Gr. zone, properly a girdle (Matt. 10:9; Mark 6:8), a money-belt. As to our Lord's sending forth his disciples without money in their purses, the remark has been made that in this "there was no departure from the simple manners of the country. At this day the farmer sets out on excursions quite as extensive without a para in his purse; and a modern Moslem prophet of Tarshisha thus sends forth his apostles over this identical region. No traveller in the East would hestitate to throw himself on the hospitality of any village." Thomson's Land and the Book. (See [515]SCRIP.)

Purse - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

PURSE, n. purs. [L. byrsa, an ox hide; Gr. id.]

1. A small bag in which money is contained or carried in the pocket. It was formerly made of leather, and is still made of this material by common people. It is usually of silk net-work.

2. A sum of money offered as the prize of winning in a horse race.

3. In turkey, a sum of money, about f50 sterling, or $222.

4. The public coffers; the treasury; as, to exhaust a nation's purse, or the public purse.

Long purse, or heavy purse, wealth; riches.

Light purse, or empty purse, poverty, or want of resources.

Sword and purse, the military power and wealth of a nation.

PURSE, v.t. To put in a purse.

1. To contract into folds or wrinkles.

Thou didst contract and purse thy blow.

Matthew George Easton, Easton’s Bible Dictionary; Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language (1828)

The article in Easton + Webster 1828

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE 1915)

purs.

See BAG.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia — James Orr, general editor and contributors; CrossWire SWORD module ISBE 2.2

The article in ISBE 1915

Smith’s Bible Dictionary

a bag for money. The Hebrews, when on a journey, were provided with a bag, in which they carried their money, (Genesis 42:35; Proverbs 1:14; 7:20; Isaiah 46:6) and, if they were merchants, also their weights. (25:13; Micah 6:11) This bag is described in the New Testament by the terms balantion (bag) (Luke 10:4; 12:33; 22:35,38) and glossokomon (originally the bag in which musicians carried the mouth-pieces of their Instruments). (John 12:6; 13:29) The girdle also served as a purse. (Matthew 10:9; Mark 6:8) Ladies wore ornamental purses. (Isaiah 3:24)

William Smith; revised by F. N. Peloubet and M. A. Peloubet; CrossWire SWORD module Smith 1.3

The article in Smith