τελών-ης G5057
Tax collector, publican; a despised agent who gathered tolls and customs for Rome.
Formed from telos ('toll, tax') and oneomai ('to buy'), the telones was a person who had purchased the right to collect taxes or customs duties in a given district. In first-century Palestine, these figures were despised not merely for financial extortion but for serving the Roman occupation, rendering them ritually unclean collaborators in Jewish eyes. Jesus shocked the religious establishment by eating with them (Matt 9:10-11), calling one as an apostle (Matt 10:3, Matthew/Levi), and declaring that tax collectors would enter the kingdom before the chief priests (Matt 21:31). The consistent rendering across languages — Spanish 'cobrador de impuestos', French 'publicain', German 'Zoellner' — underscores how universally recognizable this social role remains.
Senses
1. tax collector, publican — A tax collector or publican who farmed tolls and customs on behalf of the Roman state. Socially reviled in Jewish Palestine for collaboration with the occupying power, these figures appear in the Gospels as stock examples of sinners (Matt 5:46; 9:10-11) whom Jesus deliberately befriends. The pairing 'tax collectors and sinners' recurs as a rhetorical set-piece. Spanish 'cobrador de impuestos', French 'publicain', and German 'Zoellner' all preserve the fiscal-agent concept, though none captures the cultural stigma the Greek term carried. 21×
AR["العَشَّارينَ", "العَشَّارِ", "العَشَّارِينَ", "العَشّارينَ", "الْعَشَّارُونَ-أَيْضًا", "جابِيَ-ضَرائِبَ", "جُباةُ-الضَّرائِبِ", "جُباةِ-الضَّرائِبِ", "جُبَاةٌ", "عَشّارونَ", "عَشّارينَ", "عَشّارٌ", "عَشّارُ", "عَشّارِ", "مِنَ-جُباةِ-الضَّرائِبِ"]·ben["কর-আদায়কারী", "কর-আদায়কারীদের", "কর-আদায়কারীরা", "কর-সংগ্রাহকরা", "কর-সংগ্রাহকারী", "কর-সংগ্রাহকারীদের,", "কর-সংগ্রাহকেরা"]·DE["Zoellner", "Zöllner"]·EN["a-tax-collector", "of-tax-collectors", "tax-collector", "tax-collectors"]·FR["publicain"]·heb["מוֹכְסִים", "מוֹכֵס"]·HI["और", "कर-वसूलनेवाले", "चुंगी-लेने-वाला", "चुंगी-लेने-वाले", "चुंगी-लेनेवाला", "चुंगी-लेनेवाले", "चुंगी-लेनेवालों-के", "चुंगीवाले-को", "चुंगीवालों", "चुंगीवालों-का", "चुंगीवालों-की", "चुंगीवालों-ने", "चुनगि-लेने-वल", "चुनगेए-लेने-वअलोन-क", "पापियों"]·ID["pemungut-cukai", "pemungut-cukai,", "seorang-pemungut-cukai"]·IT["esattore-di-tasse"]·jav["juru-beya", "juru-beya,", "juru-beya.", "juru-mupu-pajeg", "juru-pajeg", "juru-pajeg;", "juru-pajèg", "juru-pajèg,", "juru-paos", "para-juru-pajeg"]·KO["세리", "세리-와", "세리는", "세리들", "세리들-의", "세리들-이", "세리들과", "세리들의", "세리들이", "세리를", "세리이었다"]·PT["cobrador-de-impostos", "cobradores-de-impostos", "coletores-de-impostos", "coletores-de-impostos,", "de-cobradores-de-impostos", "de-publicanos", "publicanos"]·RU["мытарей", "мытари", "мытарь", "мытаря,", "мытарями"]·ES["cobrador-de-impuestos", "cobradores-de-impuestos", "de-cobradores-de-impuestos", "de-publicanos", "publicano", "publicanos", "recaudadores"]·SW["makahaba", "mtoza-ushuru", "mtoza-ushuru;", "na", "rafiki", "wa-watoza-ushuru", "watoza-ushuru", "watoza-ushuru,"]·TR["vergi-toplayıcı", "vergi-toplayıcılar", "vergi-toplayıcılarla", "vergi-toplayıcıları", "vergi-toplayıcıları,", "vergi-toplayıcıların", "vergi-toplayıcıların,", "vergi-toplayıcılarının", "vergi-toplayıcılarıyla", "vergi-toplayıcısı"]·urd["-کی", "اور", "دیکھا", "محصول-لینے-والا", "محصول-لینے-والوں", "محصول-لینے-والوں-کا", "محصول-لینے-والوں-کے", "محصول-لینے-والے"]
Matt 5:46, Matt 9:10, Matt 9:11, Matt 10:3, Matt 11:19, Matt 18:17, Matt 21:31, Matt 21:32, Mark 2:15, Mark 2:16, Mark 2:16, Luke 3:12 (+9 more)
Related Senses
H5414 1. give, bestow (1855×)H3947 1. take, seize, grasp (Qal) (940×)G2192 1. possess / have (680×)G1325 1. give, bestow (336×)H5159 1. inherited land or property (170×)G2983 1. receive, obtain (134×)H3423 1. Qal: take possession of land (130×)G2983 2. take, take up (113×)G2398 1. one's own, belonging to oneself (91×)G3860 1. hand over, deliver to custody (78×)H7998 1. spoil, plunder, booty (74×)G1325 2. be given, be granted (70×)H5414 2. put, place, set (68×)H7999a 1. pay, repay, recompense (63×)H7069 1. Buy, purchase (59×)H1892 1. vanity, futility, absurdity (58×)H5159 2. heritage as covenant portion (52×)H6299 1. redeem or ransom (Qal active) (49×)H4376 1. Sell (Qal active) (47×)H1350a 1. Redeem, buy back (46×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
τελών-ης, ου, ὁ, (τέλος 1.8, ὠνέομαι) farmer or collector of tolls, customs, or taxes, Refs 5th c.BC+, of the Oropians, Refs 2nd c.BC+; = Latin publicanus, NT; πορνοβοσκοὶ καὶ τ. Refs 2nd c.AD+