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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
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Luke 19 V1 V3 V5 V9 V11 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43 V45 V47
OET (OET-LV) And all having_seen it, were_grumbling saying, that He_came_in to_lodge with a_sinful man.
OET (OET-RV) But everyone who had observed it was grumbling, “Hoy, he’s going to stay with a sinful man.”
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.
In Jewish culture, a person usually would not eat or stay in someone’s house if that person did not invite him. But Jesus invited himself to be the guest of Zacchaeus. Jesus showed that he was willing to enter the house of a tax collector even if it meant that he would be considered ritually unclean.
If you are using footnotes to give background information, you might want to use one here. For example:
In Jewish culture it was not customary for a person to invite himself to eat at another person’s house. Jesus did that to help Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus knew that most religious leaders would not enter a tax collector’s house, so Zacchaeus might not feel that he should invite Jesus.
For more background information about tax collectors, see the introduction to Section 19:1–10.
And all who saw this began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinful man!”: The phrase began to grumble, saying is literally “were complaining, saying.” It introduces an example of what the people said. Some other ways to translate it in English are:
But the people who saw this complained about it. They said, “He has gone to stay with a sinner.”
Everyone who saw this started grumbling, “This man Zacchaeus is a sinner! And Jesus is going home to eat with him.” (CEV)
Notice that the CEV has changed the order of the information in the quote. Use a natural order in your language.
In some languages it may be more natural to use an indirect quote here. For example:
They all began to mutter that it was not right for him to go and stay with a sinner.
The people did not like it. They said that Zacchaeus was a sinner and that Jesus should not visit in his home.
And all who saw this began to grumble, saying,
The crowd saw what happened and began to grumble about it.
Seeing this, everyone there started to criticize Jesus.
When the people who were there saw and heard this, they all complained against Jesus,
And all who saw this began to grumble: The word this is not in the Greek text. The BSB has supplied it to make the clause natural in English. In some languages you may need to make the clause more explicit. For example:
When the people saw that Jesus had gone to Zacchaeus’ house with him…
In some languages this information may already be implied, and you may not need to translate the phrase saw this. For example:
But the people were displeased. (NLT)
all who saw this: The Greek word that the BSB translates literally as all refers to the crowd that was following Jesus. They were there watching. Refer to them in a clear way in your language. Some ways to refer to them in English are:
All the people who were there
The whole crowd that was following Jesus
began to grumble: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as began to grumble indicates here that the people complained about what Jesus did. They criticized Jesus because they did not think that he should go to stay with a sinner such as Zacchaeus. Some other ways to translate began to grumble are:
said that Jesus should not do that
criticized Jesus
The form of the Greek verb can be translated as an action that is beginning, as in the BSB. The same form of the word was used in 15:2 in a similar context. See how you translated it there.
“He has gone to be the guest of a sinful man!”
They said, “Jesus has gone to stay in the house of a sinful/evil man.”
saying that he had gone to visit someone who did not keep God’s law.
He has gone to be the guest of a sinful man!: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as has gone to be the guest means “has entered to rest/lodge.” The word for “to rest/lodge” is different from the one that was translated as “stay” in 19:5. However, both words have the same meaning in this context. Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ house and probably spent the night there. Some other ways to translate this are:
Jesus is staying with a sinner! (NCV)
He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. (ESV)
He has gone to stay at a sinner’s house (NJB)
a sinful man!: The Greek word that the BSB translates as a sinful man here refers to a person who habitually disobeys God. See how you translated the verb “sin” in 17:3–4. Some ways to translate sinful man here are:
person who habitually sins
person who does not obey God
wrongdoer
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / hyperbole
πάντες διεγόγγυζον
all ˓were˒_grumbling
Luke is using the term all as a generalization for emphasis. Alternate translation: [the people in the crowd complained]
παρὰ ἁμαρτωλῷ ἀνδρὶ εἰσῆλθεν καταλῦσαι
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἰδόντες πάντες διεγόγγυζον λέγοντες ὅτι παρά ἁμαρτωλῷ ἀνδρί Εἰσῆλθεν καταλῦσαι)
Alternate translation: [Jesus is going to stay in the house of an obvious sinner]
ἁμαρτωλῷ ἀνδρὶ
˓a˒_sinful (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἰδόντες πάντες διεγόγγυζον λέγοντες ὅτι παρά ἁμαρτωλῷ ἀνδρί Εἰσῆλθεν καταλῦσαι)
By using two terms together, rather than simply saying “sinner,” the crowd is emphasizing that Zacchaeus has openly done many wrong things. Alternate translation: [an obvious sinner]
OET (OET-LV) And all having_seen it, were_grumbling saying, that He_came_in to_lodge with a_sinful man.
OET (OET-RV) But everyone who had observed it was grumbling, “Hoy, he’s going to stay with a sinful man.”
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.