Luke 5:27
After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him,
BSB
Parallel translations (2) ▾
ASV
And after these things he went forth, and beheld a publican, named Levi, sitting at the place of toll, and said unto him, Follow me.
KJV
And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.
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Commentary
2 voicesVoices on this verse
loading…Hebraic traditional view
Levi's feast and the old wine
Levi “made him a great feast in his own house,” and the objection came at the guest list: the Pharisaic table discipline meant an observant associate did not eat with the non-observant, whose food might be untithed and whose vessels unclean, and tax collectors stood furthest outside the circle of trust: the Mishnah rules a house unclean if tax collectors have entered it (Taharot 7:6), and even permits declaring untruths to them under duress, classing them with robbers (Nedarim 3:4). The table Jesus chose was a boundary deliberately crossed: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” The fuller table-and-fasting background is in this site's Matthew 9 note.
Luke alone keeps the last saying: “No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.” Spoken at a Jewish table about Jewish devotion, it is a gracious word, not a sneer: Jesus knows exactly why the old ways taste right to those formed by them, even as He announces something new that will not fit the old wineskins.
Sources: Mishnah Taharot 7:6 (tax collectors and the unclean house) · Mishnah Nedarim 3:4 (vows made to tax collectors)
Original language & word study
18 tagged words| Original | Transliteration | Meaning | Word study |
|---|---|---|---|
| Καὶ | Kai | And | G2532 → |
| μετὰ | meta | after | G3326 → |
| ταῦτα | tauta | these things | G3778 → |
| ἐξῆλθεν | exēlthen | He went forth | G1831 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| ἐθεάσατο | etheasato | He saw | G2300 → |
| τελώνην | telōnēn | a tax collector | G5057 → |
| ὀνόματι | onomati | named | G3686 → |
| Λευὶν | Leuin | Levi | G3017 → |
| καθήμενον | kathēmenon | sitting | G2521 → |
| ἐπὶ | epi | at | G1909 → |
| τὸ | to | the | G3588 → |
| τελώνιον | telōnion | tax booth | G5058 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| εἶπεν | eipen | He said | G2036 → |
| αὐτῷ· | autō | to him; | G846 → |
| ἀκολούθει | akolouthei | do follow | G190 → |
| μοι. | moi | Me. | G3165 → |
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