The Greek that is translated as “tax collector” in English is translated in Tagbanwa as “money-grabbing official receivers of payment” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation) and in Noongar as mammarapa boya-barranginy or “people taking money” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation). Likewise, in Cashibo-Cacataibo, it is the “ones who take the money” (source: Bratcher / Nida 1961).
In Mairasi it is translated as “the people who collect money pertaining to head payment.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about tax collectors in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
The name that is transliterated as “Zacchaeus” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the sign signifying “short” (referring to Luke 19:3). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 19:2:
Noongar: “A chief tax collector lived in Jericho. His name was Zachaeus, and he was very rich.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “In that town, there was a rich man who was the head of the tax collectors, named Zakheus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “There was a person living there, his name was Sakkiyas. He was the leader of the people who collect payment and he was rich.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And there was there a man from Jericho who was named Zacchaeus. And as for this Zacchaeus, he was the chief of the tax collectors there, and he was very rich.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “there was a rich-man who was the leader of the tax collectors who was named Zakeus.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “There was a rich person there who was a boss of the official receivers of payment to the government, whose name was Zaqueo.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Luke 19:1-10:
Zacchaeus lived in Jericho and was rich — yet he was hated,
because he collected taxes for the Roman authorities.
Somehow Zacchaeus found out
that Jesus was passing through Jericho,
and he wanted to see what he was like.
Crowds covered every inch of the ground,
and since Zacchaeus was short and couldn’t see the road,
he climbed up a big tree and waited.
Jesus spotted him in the tree and shouted,
“Zacchaeus, come down! I want to visit with you today.”
Zacchaeus scampered down and greeted Jesus with a smile.
But jealousy took control of the crowds, and they grumbled,
“This guy Zacchaeus is scum!
Is Jesus really going to eat with him?”
When Zacchaeus got up from the meal, he said to Jesus,
“Lord, I promise to give half of my property to the poor,
and to everyone I’ve ever cheated,
I’ll pay back four times as much.”
“Now you and your family are acceptable to God!” said Jesus.
“Indeed you are truly a son of your ancestor Abraham.
I came to look for and to save people that others reject.”
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
kai idou anēr lit. ‘and behold, (there was) a man,’ nominal clause introduced by emphatic kai idou, denoting that Zacchaeus’ appearance on the scene was rather surprising.
onomati kaloumenos Zakchaios ‘named Zacchaeus,’ pleonastic since onomati and kaloumenos are synonymous.
kai autos ēn architelōnēs ‘and he was a chief tax-collector.’ autos is unemphatic.
architelōnēs (‡; not found elsewhere in Greek) ‘chief tax-collector,’ cf. on 3.12 where telōnēs is used. architelōnēs, either the head of the local telōnai, or merely higher in rank.
kai autos plousios ‘and he (was) rich,’ explicit addition of what might be presumed in the case of a chief tax-collector and preparing the way for v. 8.
Translation:
Chief tax collector, i.e. ‘one of the great/principal tax collectors,’ or, ‘the head (Bahasa Indonesia), or, the father (Medumba) of the tax collectors.’ For tax collector see on 3.12.
And rich, sometimes better appositional, ‘a rich man,’ or as a new sentence, ‘he was a rich man.’
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
And there was a man named Zacchaeus: This clause introduces a man named Zacchaeus, who is an important person in this section. In Greek the clause begins with a phrase that is sometimes translated as “And look!” or “And listen!” Use an expression that is natural in your language to introduce a new character and give his name. Some other ways to do this in English are:
A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus… (New International Version) -or-
A man named Zacchaeus lived there.
19:2b
a chief tax collector: Zacchaeus was called a chief tax collector. This implies that he had other tax collectors working under him. Other ways to translate chief tax collector are:
a principal tax collector -or-
a leader/head of the tax collectors
tax collector: The term tax collector refers here to men who collected tax money from people for a government. Zacchaeus was a Jewish man, but he collected taxes for the Roman government that often oppressed the people. Most Jewish people hated tax collectors like Zacchaeus because:
(a) They collected taxes for the Roman government that oppressed the people.
(b) They often collected more money than the government required. They kept the extra money for themselves.
If you do not have a word in your language for “tax collectors,” you may use a phrase to describe them. For example:
men who collected tax money for the government
If you use footnotes in your translation to explain background information, you may want to include one about tax collectors. For example:
The Jewish people hated tax collectors because they worked for a foreign government that oppressed them. The tax collectors often cheated the people by charging them too much.
Tax collectors are also mentioned at 3:12, 5:27–30, 7:29, 7:34, 15:1 and 18:10–14.
who was very wealthy: Zacchaeus was a rich man. He had probably become rich by collecting taxes from people. The word wealthy can also be put earlier in this verse. See the General Comment for an example.
General Comment on 19:2a–b
In some languages it may be more natural to change the order of some of the information in this verse. For example:
2bA wealthy man 2anamed Zacchaeus lived there. 2bHe was a leader of the people who collected taxes in the city.
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