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)
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.
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.
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