Luke 19:5-9

19:5 And when Jesus came to that place, he looked up ¹  and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, ²  because I must ³  stay at your house today.” ⁴  19:6 So he came down quickly ⁵  and welcomed Jesus ⁶  joyfully. ⁷  19:7 And when the people ⁸  saw it, they all complained, ⁹  “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” ¹⁰  19:8 But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give ¹¹  to the poor, and if ¹²  I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!” 19:9 Then ¹³  Jesus said to him, “Today salvation ¹⁴  has come to this household, ¹⁵  because he too is a son of Abraham! ¹⁶ 

[19:5]  ¹ tc Most mss (A [D] W [Ψ] ˹³ 33^vid Ï latt) read “Jesus looking up, saw him and said.” The words “saw him and” are not in א B L T Θ Ë¹ 579 1241 2542 pc co. Both the testimony for the omission and the natural tendency toward scribal expansion argue for the shorter reading here.

[19:5]  ² tn Grk “hastening, come down.” σπεύσας (speusa") has been translated as a participle of manner.

[19:5]  ³ sn I must stay. Jesus revealed the necessity of his associating with people like Zacchaeus (5:31-32). This act of fellowship indicated acceptance.

[19:5]  ⁴ sn On today here and in v. 9, see the note on today in 2:11.

[19:6]  ⁵ tn Grk “hastening, he came down.” σπεύσας (speusas) has been translated as a participle of manner.

[19:6]  ⁶ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:6]  ⁷ tn The participle χαίρων (cairwn) has been taken as indicating manner.

[19:7]  ⁸ tn Grk “they”; the referent is unspecified but is probably the crowd in general, who would have no great love for a man like Zacchaeus who had enriched himself many times over at their expense.

[19:7]  ⁹ tn This term is used only twice in the NT, both times in Luke (here and 15:2) and has negative connotations both times (BDAG 227 s.v. διαγογγύζω). The participle λέγοντες (legonte") is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[19:7]  ¹⁰ sn Being the guest of a man who is a sinner was a common complaint about Jesus: Luke 5:31-32; 7:37-50; 15:1-2.

[19:8]  ¹¹ sn Zacchaeus was a penitent man who resolved on the spot to act differently in the face of Jesus’ acceptance of him. In resolving to give half his possessions to the poor, Zacchaeus was not defending himself against the crowd’s charges and claiming to be righteous. Rather as a result of this meeting with Jesus, he was a changed individual. So Jesus could speak of salvation coming that day (v. 9) and of the lost being saved (v. 10).

[19:8]  ¹² tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text. It virtually confesses fraud.

[19:9]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative

[19:9]  ¹⁴ sn This is one of the few uses of the specific term salvation in Luke (1:69, 71, 77), though the concept runs throughout the Gospel.

[19:9]  ¹⁵ sn The household is not a reference to the building, but to the people who lived within it (L&N 10.8).

[19:9]  ¹⁶ sn Zacchaeus was personally affirmed by Jesus as a descendant (son) of Abraham and a member of God’s family.