τελώνης

telones

tax collector

from τέλος and ὠνέομαι; a tax-farmer, i.e. collector of public revenue:--publican.

G5057

Luke 18:13 · Word #3

Lexicon G5057

Lemmaτελώνης
Transliterationtelṓnēs
Strong'sG5057
In-contexttax collector
Literaltax-collector

Morphology N NOM M SG All morphology codes

Part of Speech N — Noun — A person, place, thing, or idea
Case NOM — Nominative — The subject of the sentence
Gender M — Masculine — Grammatical masculine
Number SG — Singular — One

Lexical Info

Lemmaτελώνης
Strong'sG5057

SIBI-P1 G5057-03

a toll-buyer

Rootτελώνης (telōnēs)
Core Meaningstoll-buyer, tax-farmer, revenue collector, purchaser of tax rights
Semantic Rangetax-farmer, collector of customs or tribute, contractor of public revenue, revenue official under Roman authority
Conceptual SignificanceIn the Gospels, toll-buyers were often viewed as collaborators with occupying powers and associated with social and ritual impurity. Their frequent pairing with "sinners" highlights themes of repentance, mercy, and the reversal of social expectations in the message of the Kingdom.
Morphological NotesGr,N,,,,,NMS — noun, nominative case, masculine gender, singular number; functioning typically as the subject of a clause or predicate nominative.
Rendering RationaleThe term derives from τέλος (toll, tax, duty) and ὠνέομαι (to buy), referring to one who purchases the right to collect taxes. Rendering it "toll-buyer" preserves this root imagery rather than the more generalized "tax collector." The nominative masculine singular form is reflected by the singular English noun referring to one male individual acting as subject.

AI-generated (openai/gpt-5.2-chat-latest)

Words from Root τελώνης (toll-buyer, tax-farmer, revenue collector, purchaser of tax rights)

SILEX Code Transliteration SIBI-P1
G5057-02 telonen a tribute-collector
G5057-04 telonon of the tribute-farmers

Word Usage (21 occurrences of G5057)

Location Form Transliteration Meaning
Matthew 5:46 τελῶναι telonai
Matthew 9:10 τελῶναι telonai
Matthew 9:11 τελωνῶν telonon