Luke 5:30
But the Pharisees and their scribes complained to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
BSB
Parallel translations (2) ▾
ASV
And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with the publicans and sinners?
KJV
But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
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Commentary
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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
23 tagged words| Original | Transliteration | Meaning | Word study |
|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | And | G2532 → |
| ἐγόγγυζον | egonguzon | were grumbling | G1111 → |
| οἱ | hoi | the | G3588 → |
| Φαρισαῖοι | Pharisaioi | Pharisees | G5330 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| οἱ | hoi | the | G3588 → |
| γραμματεῖς | grammateis | scribes | G1122 → |
| αὐτῶν | autōn | of them | G846 → |
| πρὸς | pros | at | G4314 → |
| τοὺς | tous | the | G3588 → |
| μαθητὰς | mathētas | disciples | G3101 → |
| αὐτοῦ | autou | of Him | G846 → |
| λέγοντες· | legontes | saying; | G3004 → |
| διὰ | dia | Because of | G1223 → |
| τί | ti | why | G5101 → |
| μετὰ | meta | with | G3326 → |
| τῶν | tōn | the | G3588 → |
| τελωνῶν | telōnōn | tax collectors | G5057 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| ἁμαρτωλῶν | hamartōlōn | sinners | G268 → |
| ἐσθίετε | esthiete | do you eat | G2068 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| πίνετε;¶ | pinete | drink? | G4095 → |
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