Zacchaeus in a Sycamore Tree

Illustration “So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him” by Annie Vallotton, copyright by Donald and Patricia Griggs of Griggs Educational Service. More images can be viewed at rotation.org .

For other images by Annie Vallotton on Translation Insights & Perspectives, see here.

Following is a hand-colored stencil print on momigami by Sadao Watanabe (1993).

Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe.

For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.

Following is a 1973 painting of the JESUS MAFA project, a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings:

From Art in the Christian Tradition , a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved March 23, 2026. Original source: librairie-emmanuel.fr.

See also Zacchaeus.

Jericho

The name that is transliterated in English as “Jericho” means “city of the moon,” “a fragrant place.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )

In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a sign that alludes to the walls of Jericho coming tumbling down (see Joshua 6:20). (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)


“Jericho” in Hungarian Sign Language — note that only the first part refers to “Jericho,” the second parts refer to “town” (source )

See also The Fall of Jericho.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Jericho .

complete verse (Luke 19:1)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 19:1:

  • Noongar: “Jesus went to Jericho, passing through the town.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “At the time that Yesus arrived in the town of Yerikho, he kept on walking passing through that town.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Isa entered the town of Ariha and passed through the middle of town.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus and company arrived at the town of Jericho, and they passed through it on their way.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “As plural Jesus were walking through Jerico,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Jesus reached the city of Jerico for the trail he was walking along went-right-by there.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Scriptures Plain & Simple (Luke 19:1-10)

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.”

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("passing")

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, tōtteo-rare-ru (通っておられる) or “passing” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Luke 19:1

Exegesis:

kai eiselthōn diērcheto tēn Ierichō ‘and after entering Jericho he passed through it.’ diērcheto is durative imperfect. The verse sets the scene for the subsequent events. For dierchomai cf. on 2.15.

Translation:

Was passing through, or, ‘made his way through it,’ ‘passed in the midst of the town’ (Tae’), implying that Jesus did not stay in the city but entered it only to leave it at the other end.

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.