The Greek noun dapane refers to the cost, expense, or expenditure required for something. It appears in Jesus's teaching on counting the cost of discipleship (Luke 14:28) — before building a tower, one must 'first sit down and count the cost (dapanen) whether he has enough to complete it.'
Jesus deliberately uses the pragmatic language of financial planning (dapane) to describe the demands of discipleship. The one who begins to follow Christ must reckon with the full cost — including persecution, loss of family ties, and even life itself (Luke 14:26–27, 33). This is not discouragement but honesty: superficial, unconsidered discipleship ends in shame. The tower left unfinished and the king who cannot win the war (Luke 14:28–32) both picture the folly of half-counted commitment. True discipleship means surveying the full cost and deciding that Jesus is worth it.