LUKE 19:9 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

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.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.

19:9a

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house,

Jesus said to him, “Today this household has received salvation/deliverance,
Jesus answered him, “This very day God has saved/rescued you^(sing) and your household from being judged/condemned by God,

Jesus said to him: The Greek word that the BSB translates as to seems to indicate that Jesus spoke to Zacchaeus. However, it could also indicate that Jesus spoke about him.It is possible that Jesus was speaking to Zacchaeus, but it was a statement that he wanted all the people to hear and think about. Another possibility is that Jesus’ first words addressed Zacchaeus (“Today salvation has come to this house,”) and then, he addressed all those present with the words that followed (“because this man too is a son of Abraham.”) The context implies that both Zacchaeus and the crowd were listening to what Jesus said in this verse. There are several ways to translate the verse:

Introduce 19:9 in a way that does not indicate whether Jesus was speaking to or “about” Zacchaeus. For example:
Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham.” (NLT)
Introduce 19:9a and 19:9b separately. For example:
^9aJesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house.” ^9bThen he said, “For this man also is a son of Abraham.”
Use “you” or “your” in both 19:9a–b. For example:
You and your family have been saved today. You’ve shown that you, too, are one of Abraham’s descendants. (GW)

Remember that in some languages using “you” or “your” in both 19:9a and 19:9b may not communicate that Jesus was speaking to the crowd, as well as to Zacchaeus. Jesus wanted the crowd to pay attention to what he said about Zacchaeus. This is clear from Luke 19:11. It is good to imply that in your translation.

Today salvation has come to this house: There are different ways to interpret the meaning of the statement salvation has come to this house. It probably indicates that the other members of Zacchaeus’ family also received God’s salvation that day.Some other views are: (a) the possibility of salvation now existed for the whole household, whether or not they had already received it, and (b) salvation had come to the household because it had come to Zacchaeus, the head of the household. It is interesting to contrast Jesus’ words with the thinking of the Jews. They would think that Zacchaeus’ whole household was ritually defiled by association with him. Jesus in turn makes the pronouncement that salvation has come to the whole household.

In some languages it may not be natural to speak of salvation “coming” to a household. Some other ways to translate it in this context are:

Use a different verb:
Today this household receives God’s salvation
Translate salvation with a passive verb:
Today this household has been saved.
Translate salvation with an active verb or verbal noun and supply “God” as the subject:
Today God saves the people who live in this house.
Really right-now, the saving by God has come here to this household.From Tagbanwa, a language of the Philippines, in back translation.

Translate this statement in a natural way in your language.

Today: The word Today is emphasized here. It may imply a contrast with the past days of Zacchaeus’ life. Other ways to emphasize it in English are:

As for today

On this very day

salvation: The Greek word that the BSB translates as salvation refers to being rescued from evil or danger. In this context it refers to being rescued from sin and from being judged and condemned because of sins. It also implies being reconciled with God and his people. Some other ways to translate it in this context are:

deliverance

God has rescued this household from evil/punishment

have been freed from sin/judgment and reconciled with God

See save in the Glossary.

this house: In this context the phrase this house refers to Zacchaeus’ household. It includes the people who lived in Zacchaeus’ house, both family members and servants. Some other ways to translate this are:

this household

the people of this house

the people living in your house

Zacchaeus himself was included in the phrase this house. In some languages it may be necessary to make that explicit. For example:

to you, Zacchaeus and to your household

19:9b

because this man too is a son of Abraham.

because this man, Zacchaeus, is also one of the sons of Abraham.
because you^(sing) are a descendant of Abraham just as other Jews are.” Then Jesus said,

because this man too is a son of Abraham: The Greek word that the BSB translates as because here is rare in the New Testament. It occurs only six times, all in the books of Luke and Acts. It usually introduces the basis for a statement.

The exact connection between 19:9a and 19:9b is not obvious. But Abraham was famous for believing God. In 19:8, Zacchaeus showed that he also believed the Lord, as Abraham did. Because of that, he received salvation. He did not receive it only because he was a Jew by birth.

Here are some other ways to translate this connection in English:

for (GNT)

since (RSV)

He has shown that

Translate the connection in a natural way in your language.

this man too is a son of Abraham: Abraham was the ancestor of all the Jewish people. God made a covenant with him and his descendants. Abraham was famous for trusting and obeying God. When Jesus said that Zacchaeus was a son of Abraham, he implied that Zacchaeus also shared in God’s covenant with the other Jews who trusted God.

In some languages a literal translation may imply the wrong meaning that Zacchaeus was saved because he was physically a descendant of Abraham. If that is true in your language, it may be necessary to include some implied information. For example:

he also is a true descendant of Abraham.

It may also be helpful to add a footnote here in your translation. For example:

Zacchaeus was saved because he trusted in God, as his ancestor Abraham did. He was not saved only because he was Abraham’s physical descendant.

Remember that Jesus was speaking to Zacchaeus, as well as about him. In some languages it is more natural to use “you” here. For example:

you also trust in God as your ancestor Abraham did (TRT)

you today have done like your ancestor Abraham, because you believed in GodWestern Bukidnon Manobo back translation on TW.

For more information, see the note on “Jesus said to him” at 19:9a.

a son of Abraham: Here the phrase son of Abraham means “descendant of Abraham.” Abraham lived hundreds of years before Zacchaeus was born. Abraham was his ancestor. Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

this man, also, is a descendant of Abraham (GNT)

this man also belongs to the family of Abraham (NCV)

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

εἶπεν δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰησοῦς

said (Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν Δέ πρός αὐτόν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι Σήμερον σωτηρία τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ ἐγένετο καθότι καί αὐτός υἱός Ἀβραάμ ἐστίν)

Jesus spoke not just to Zacchaeus but also to the people from the crowd who were complaining that he had gone to visit him. In this culture, people were allowed to stand around the walls of the banquet room in a private home and listen to what an invited guest was saying. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could state that explicitly. Alternate translation: [Then Jesus said to Zacchaeus and to the people from the crowd who were standing around the room]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / 123person

σωτηρία τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ ἐγένετο, καθότι καὶ αὐτὸς υἱὸς Ἀβραάμ ἐστιν

salvation ¬the ˱to˲_house this became as_much_as (Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν Δέ πρός αὐτόν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι Σήμερον σωτηρία τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ ἐγένετο καθότι καί αὐτός υἱός Ἀβραάμ ἐστίν)

Jesus is speaking to Zacchaeus, but he addresses him in the third person because he is also speaking to the people from the crowd. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use the second person here. Alternate translation: [salvation has come to your household, because you too are a son of Abraham]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / personification

σωτηρία τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ ἐγένετο

salvation ¬the ˱to˲_house this became

Jesus speaks of salvation as if it were a living thing that could come to the house of Zacchaeus. Alternate translation: [God has brought salvation to this household]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

σωτηρία τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ ἐγένετο

salvation ¬the ˱to˲_house this became

If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the idea behind the abstract noun salvation with a verb such as “save,” and show that God has done the action. Alternate translation: [God has saved this household]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ

¬the ˱to˲_house this

Jesus is using the word house to refer to the people living in the house. Alternate translation: [to this household] or [to this family]

καὶ αὐτὸς

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν Δέ πρός αὐτόν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι Σήμερον σωτηρία τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ ἐγένετο καθότι καί αὐτός υἱός Ἀβραάμ ἐστίν)

Alternate translation: [this man too] or [Zacchaeus also]

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

υἱὸς Ἀβραάμ

Jesus may be using the word son to mean “descendant.” Alternate translation: [a descendant of Abraham] or [one of our fellow Jews]

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

υἱὸς Ἀβραάμ

Alternatively, Jesus could be using the expression son of as an idiom to mean someone who shares the qualities of someone else. Alternate translation: [a person who has faith as Abraham did]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

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.

OET interlinear LUKE 19:9

SR Greek word order (including unused variant words in grey)

Section 19:1–10: Zacchaeus the tax collector began to follow Jesus

19:9a

19:9b

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)