τελωνῶν

telonon-2

tax-collectors

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

G5057

Mark 2:16 · Word #21

Lexicon G5057

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

Morphology N GEN M PL All morphology codes

Part of Speech N — Noun — A person, place, thing, or idea
Case GEN — Genitive — Possession, source, or separation
Gender M — Masculine — Grammatical masculine
Number PL — Plural — More than one

Lexical Info

Lemmaτελώνης
Strong'sG5057

SIBI-P1 G5057-04

of the tribute-farmers

Rootτελώνης (telōnēs)
Core Meaningstax-farmer, toll-collector, revenue contractor, tribute-buyer
Semantic Rangetax collector, toll collector, revenue agent, contractor of public taxes, one who farms taxes on behalf of governing authorities
Conceptual SignificanceIn the Second Temple context, tribute-farmers were often viewed as collaborators with occupying powers and as ritually compromised or socially despised. Their frequent pairing with "sinners" in the Gospels underscores themes of social exclusion, repentance, and the extension of divine mercy.
Morphological NotesNoun, genitive masculine plural (Gr,N,,,,,GMP); denotes possession, association, or source; masculine grammatical gender; plural number.
Rendering RationaleThe noun derives from τέλος (tribute, tax, toll) and ὠνέομαι (to buy), referring to those who "bought" the right to collect taxes. Rendering it "tribute-farmers" preserves this economic-root sense rather than the generalized "tax collector." The genitive masculine plural form is reflected in the phrase "of the tribute-farmers."

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

Words from Root τελώνης (tax-farmer, toll-collector, revenue contractor, tribute-buyer)

SILEX Code Transliteration SIBI-P1
G5057-02 telonen a tribute-collector
G5057-03 telones a toll-buyer

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