I tell thee,.... The Syriac version before these words, prefixes an "Amen", or "verily", for the sake of the stronger affirmation, which seems to be taken from Matthew 5:26
thou shalt not depart thence; get out of prison:
till thou hast paid the very last mite: of the sum in debate, which was what the Jews call a "prutah", and that was the eighth part of an Italian farthing, and half a common farthing;
Mark 12:42: with this agrees what Mainonides says y, that
"when he that lends, requires what he has lent, though he is rich, and the borrower is distressed, and straitened for food, there is no mercy showed him in judgment, but his debt is, demanded of him, עד פרוטה אחרונה, "unto the last prutah, or mite".''
y Hilchot M. vah. c. 1. sect. 4.