Section 19:1–10

Zacchaeus the tax collector began to follow Jesus

In the preceding section Jesus was approaching Jericho. In this section he entered Jericho and met a tax collector named Zacchaeus.

The Jews thought that the tax collectors were more sinful than other people. Most tax collectors cheated their own Jewish people by charging them more money than they actually owed. The tax collectors also worked with government officials who were not Jews, so the Jews assumed that tax collectors were often ritually unclean. While they were ritually unclean, they were not able to enter the temple or synagogue to worship God publicly. If another Jew entered a tax collector’s house or ate with him while he was unclean, that Jew also would become unclean.

The city of Jericho, where Zacchaeus worked, was a busy trading center. People were required to pay taxes on things that they sold. A chief tax collector like Zacchaeus could easily become rich through collecting taxes there.

You may want to include footnotes in your translation to help readers understand this background information. Suggested footnotes are given at 19:2b, Paragraph 19:5–7, and 19:7b.

Jesus was a Jew, but he went to Zacchaeus’ house and ate a meal with him. During that time, Zacchaeus repented of his sins and received salvation.

Other examples of headings for this section are:

Jesus and Zacchaeus (Good News Translation)
-or-
Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ house
-or-
Jesus ate with Zacchaeus the tax collector

Only the Gospel of Luke tells about this event. The other gospels do not mention it.

Paragraph 19:1–4

19:1

Then: This verse begins a new section. The events in this section probably happened soon after the events in the preceding section. In some languages it may be helpful to introduce this story with a time word or phrase. The Berean Standard Bible does that by translating the Greek conjunction at the start of the verse as Then. Some other ways to do this in English are:

Soon after that
-or-
After that

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through: Jesus went through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as was passing through indicates that Jesus had begun to walk through Jericho but he had not left the city yet. Here are some other ways to translate was passing through in this context:

Jesus was going through Jericho… (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Entering Jericho he made his way through the city. (Revised English Bible)
-or-
Jesus went into Jericho and had not walked out yet.

Jesus: Since this is a new section, the Berean Standard Bible uses Jesus’ name to refer to him. The name also distinguishes Jesus from the blind man, who was the subject in 18:43. The Greek text has “he.” The Revised Standard Version and several other English versions use this pronoun rather than the name “Jesus.” Refer to Jesus here in a natural way in your language.

Jesus was still traveling with his disciples and a crowd of people. In some languages it may be necessary to include that information here. For example:

And Jesus and company arrived
-or-
Jesus ⌊and his disciples/followers⌋

Jericho: Jericho was the name of a city that was northeast of Jerusalem. For more information, see the note in 18:35a.

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