BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY

Publican

Original Hebrew / Aramaic / Greek connected to this term

How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.

GREEK · G5057

τελώνης

telōnēs — tax collector

τελώνης, -ου, ὁ (τέλος, ὠνέομαι) 1. a farmer of taxes (Let. publicanus). 2. A subordinate of the former, who collected taxes or tolls in a particular district, a tax-gatherer (EV, publican): Mat.5:46 10:3, Luk.3:12 5:27, 29 7:29 18:10-11, 13; pl., τ. κ. ἁμαρτωλοί, Mat.9:10-11 11:19, Mrk.2:15-16, Luk.5:30 7:34 15:1; τ. κ. πόρναι, Mat.21:31-32; ὁ ἐθνικὸς κ. ὁ τ., Mat.18:17 (cf. DB, iv, 172; ext., 394 f.; MM, xxiv).† (AS)

20 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →

GREEK · G2195

Ζακχαῖος

Zakchaios — Zacchaeus

Ζακχαῖος, -ου, ὁ (Heb. זַכַּי, cf. Neh.7:14, I Est.2:9, LXX Ζακχού), Zaccai, Zacchaeus, a publican: Luk.19:2, 5 19:8 (cf. 2Ma.10:19).† (AS)

3 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →

GREEK · G754

ἀρχιτελώνης

architelōnēs — chief tax collector

ἀρχι-τελώνης, -ου, ὁ a chief tax-collector, chief publican: Luk.19:2.† (AS)

1 tagged verse occurrence · see every occurrence →

GREEK · G7795

κάπηλος

kapēlos — a peddler

1. a retail-dealer, huckster, hawker, peddlar, higgler , Lat. institor, (Herdotus Historicus), attic; opposite to the merchant ἔμπορος); (Xenophon Historicus), etc.; applied to Darius because of his finance-regulations, (Herdotus Historicus):—; κ. ἀσπίδων, ὅπλων a dealer in . . , (Aristophanes Comicus) 2. a tavern-keeper, publican , Lat. caupo, (Aristophanes Comicus), etc. 3. metaphorically, κ. πονηρίας a dealer in petty roguery, (Demosthenes Orator) (ML)

0 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →

Historical dictionary entry

One who farmed the taxes (e.g., Zacchaeus, Luke 19:2) to be levied from a town or district, and thus undertook to pay to the supreme government a certain amount. In order to collect the taxes, the publicans employed subordinates (5:27; 15:1; 18:10), who, for their own ends, were often guilty of extortion and peculation. In New Testament times these taxes were paid to the Romans, and hence were regarded by the Jews as a very heavy burden, and hence also the collectors of taxes, who were frequently Jews, were hated, and were usually spoken of in very opprobrious terms. Jesus was accused of being a “friend of publicans and sinners” (Luke 7:34).

Scripture references

Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.

Compare other reference traditions

Look up Publican in Smith’s Bible Dictionary and ISBE →