tax collector

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)

See also Matthew.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Tax Collectors and Sinners .

complete verse (Luke 5:27)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 5:27:

  • Noongar: “After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector. His name was Levi. Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me!'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “After that, Yesus went out and along the road he saw a tax collector while he was sitting in his office, his name was Lewi. Yesus said, saying to him: ‘Follow me.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “After this he left that village. He saw a person who collected (as a profession) payment for the government, called Libi sitting in his office for paying taxes. Isa said to him, ‘Come. Follow me.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “When this was finished, Jesus went out of there and he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting in his office. And Jesus said to him, ‘Son, follow me.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When that was finished, then Jesus came-out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting in his office. ‘Become my disciple right-now,’ said Jesus.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When Jesus had finished his teaching, he went outside and set out walking at once. He saw an official receiver of payment called Levi, sitting there where payment to the government was caused to be made. Jesus said to him, ‘Come with me now.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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 choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

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

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, todome-rare-ru (留められる) or “keep” is used.

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

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("say")

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 are (され) 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, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Luke 5:27

Exegesis:

kai meta tauta exēlthen ‘and after this he went out.’ tauta refers to what has been told in vv. 17-26. exēlthen ‘he went out,’ presumably out of the town as the parallel text Mk. 2.13 suggests.

kai etheasato telōnēn ‘and he saw a tax collector.’ For telōnēs cf. on 3.12. Here the word refers probably to a custom-house officer since the great commercial route from Acre to Damascus passed the lake near Capernaum and it may well be that on this route was the custom-office of Levi.

theaomai ‘to see,’ often synonymous with horaō.

onomati Leuin ‘named Levi.’ In v. 29 the nominative Leuis occurs but the usual transliteration is ‘Levi.’

kathēmenon epi to telōnion ‘sitting at, or by, the custom-office.’ The participle kathēmenon goes with telōnēn as an accusative and participle after a verb of perception (etheasato ‘he saw’).

telōnion (only here and the parallels Mk. 2.14 and Mt. 9.9) ‘custom-office,’ ‘revenue office.’

akolouthei moi ‘follow me’ without introductory words or an indication of the circumstances under which Levi was called to follow Jesus.

Translation:

He went out. Where a literal rendering would restrict the meaning to leaving the house it may be preferable to say ‘he departed’ (Sundanese), or more explicitly, “he left the town” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation).

Saw a tax collector, …, sitting …, or, ‘saw a tax collector, …, who was sitting, or, as he sat.’ Because an unrelated character is introduced here (cf. on 1.5) the clause structure may have to be changed, e.g. ‘Now there was a tax collector, … sitting…; Jesus saw him (or, looked at him) and said….’

Tax collector, see on 3.12.

Tax office. Sometimes the rendering is a locative derivation built on the term for ‘tax/customs’ or ‘to gather-tax/customs.’ In the present verse, however, it is also possible simply to say, ‘in his office’ (Tae’), the possessive serving to identify the kind of office meant.

Follow me, see on v. 11.

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.