Open Bible Data Home About News OET Key
OET OET-RV OET-LV ULT UST BSB MSB BLB AICNT OEB WEBBE WMBB NET LSV FBV TCNT T4T LEB BBE Moff JPS Wymth ASV DRA YLT Drby RV SLT Wbstr KJB-1769 KJB-1611 Bshps Gnva Cvdl TNT Wycl SR-GNT UHB BrLXX BrTr Related Topics Parallel Interlinear Reference Dictionary Search
InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Luke C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24
Luke 19 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V11 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43 V45 V47
OET (OET-LV) And having_run_ahead ahead, he_went_up in a_sycamore_tree, in_order_that he_may_see him, because he_was_going to_be_passing_through of_that way.
OET (OET-RV) so he ran along ahead of the crowd and climbed a sycamore tree so that he could see Yeshua as he walked past.
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.Keener (p. 240) says: “Being a border city, Jericho had a customs station. Because it was also one of the wealthiest cities of Palestine, in the most fertile part of Judea and boasting a Herodian palace, other tax income would also be extensive. The ‘chief’ tax gatherer would be the one who contracted for sales and customs taxes and hired collectors under him. Given this role, Zacchaeus could have become rich without cheating; but it seems that he had cheated anyway (19:8).” However, it was often difficult for people to pay these taxes, and high taxes caused many of them to remain poor. That may have been a reason why Zacchaeus promised Jesus that he would give half of his possessions to poor people (19:8).
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 (GNT)
Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ house
Jesus ate with Zacchaeus the tax collector
Only the Gospel of Luke tells about this event. The other gospels do not mention it.
So he ran on ahead
So he ran ahead of the people
So Zacchaeus ran farther on the way
So: The conjunction So introduces what Zacchaeus did as a result of not being able to see over the crowd. Connect 19:3 and 19:4 in a natural way in your language.
he ran on ahead: The phrase he ran on ahead indicates that Zacchaeus ran ahead of the crowd. He wanted to get to a place by the road before Jesus and the crowd arrived there. Here is another way to translate this:
So he ran ahead of the crowd (GNT)
and climbed a sycamore tree to see Him,
and climbed a type of large fig tree so that he could see him,
and climbed into a large tree so he would be able to see Jesus.
and climbed a sycamore tree: The term sycamore tree refers to a type of tree that grows to be large and is often easy to climb. It is related to the fig tree, and more distantly to the mulberry tree. For that reason, some English versions (NIV, NLT) call it a sycamore tree; the GW describes it simply as a “fig tree.” The fruit of this tree is similar to small figs and the leaves are similar to those of a mulberry tree. It is sometimes called a fig-mulberry tree.This tree is native to central Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, and Israel. It is not the tree that is called a sycamore in Europe or North America.
If this tree does not grow in your language area, here are some ways to translate it:
Compare it to fig trees or mulberry trees in your area. For example:
a kind of fig tree
a tree like a fig/mulberry tree
Use a general term that fits the context. For example:
a large tree
a large tree that was easy to climb
Transliterate “fig” tree according to the sounds of your language and use the general term for “tree.” For example:
fik tree
pik tree
Use a loan word from another language, if people in your area are familiar with the term.
to see Him: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as to see Him expresses Zacchaeus’ purpose in climbing into the tree. He wanted to see Jesus when Jesus would walk by underneath the branches. Other ways to translate this are:
to see Jesus (GNT)
so he could see him (NCV)
in order to see him (REB)
since Jesus was about to pass that way.
because he knew that he/Jesus was going/passing that way.
The tree was beside the road that Jesus was traveling on.
since Jesus was about to pass that way: This clause tells why Zacchaeus ran ahead on that particular road and climbed that particular fig tree. He knew that Jesus was going to walk in that direction. Other ways to say this are:
Jesus was coming that way
for he was to pass that way (REB)
The information in 19:4c is already implied in 19:4a. So in some languages it may be helpful to reorder this verse and translate 19:4c as part of 19:4a. For example:
4aZacchaeus ran ahead down 4cthe road that Jesus was traveling. 4bHe climbed up into a sycamore-fig tree so that he would be able to see him when he passed by.
Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result
καὶ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί προδραμών ἔμπροσθεν ἀνέβη ἐπί συκομορέαν ἵνα ἴδῃ αὐτόν ὅτι ἐκείνης ἤμελλεν διέρχεσθαι)
Luke uses the word And to introduce the results of what the previous sentence described. Alternate translation: [So]
Note 2 topic: translate-unknown
συκομορέαν
˓a˒_sycamore_tree
A sycamore is a type of fig tree. It would have been tall enough and strong enough to hold Zacchaeus at a height from which he could see the street. If you readers would not be familiar with this particular tree, you could use a general expression. Alternate translation: [a fig tree] or [a tree]
OET (OET-LV) And having_run_ahead ahead, he_went_up in a_sycamore_tree, in_order_that he_may_see him, because he_was_going to_be_passing_through of_that way.
OET (OET-RV) so he ran along ahead of the crowd and climbed a sycamore tree so that he could see Yeshua as he walked past.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.