Luke 19

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

Zacchaeus

¹ Then He entered and was passing through Jericho. ² And see, there was a man called by name Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. ³ And he sought to see who Yeshua was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. ⁴ So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. ⁵ And when Yeshua came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house." ⁶ So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. ⁷ But when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, "He has gone in to be a guest with a man who is a sinner." ⁸ Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "See, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold." ⁹ And Yeshua said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; ¹⁰ for the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

The parable of the minas

¹¹ Now as they heard these things, He went on to speak a parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of Elohim would appear immediately. ¹² Therefore He said, "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. ¹³ So he called ten of his servants, gave them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business till I come.' ¹⁴ But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.' ¹⁵ And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much each had gained by trading. ¹⁶ Then came the first, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned ten minas.' ¹⁷ And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.' ¹⁸ And the second came, saying, 'Master, your mina has made five minas.' ¹⁹ Likewise he said to him, 'You also be over five cities.' ²⁰ Then another came, saying, 'Master, see, here is your mina, which I have kept laid away in a handkerchief. ²¹ For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.' ²² And he said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow. ²³ Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?' ²⁴ And he said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.' ²⁵ And they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas.' ²⁶ 'For I say to you that to everyone who has, more will be given; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ²⁷ But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.'"

The King comes to Jerusalem

²⁸ When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹ And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called the Mount of Olives, that He sent two of His disciples, ³⁰ saying, "Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it. ³¹ And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you loosing it?' thus you shall say to him, 'Because the Lord has need of it.'" ³² So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. ³³ But as they were loosing the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you loosing the colt?" ³⁴ And they said, "The Lord has need of it." ³⁵ Then they brought it to Yeshua. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Yeshua on it. ³⁶ And as He went, they spread their clothes on the road.

³⁷ Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise Elohim with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, ³⁸ saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" ³⁹ And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." ⁴⁰ But He answered and said to them, "I say to you that if these should keep silent, the stones will cry out."

Yeshua weeps over Jerusalem

⁴¹ Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, ⁴² saying, "If you had known, even you, at least in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, ⁴⁴ and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."

⁴⁵ Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who sold and bought in it, ⁴⁶ saying to them, "It is written, 'My house is a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of robbers.'" ⁴⁷ And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, ⁴⁸ and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.

Notes

• 19:8 The Torah required one who had taken something by fraud to "repay it in full and add a fifth to it" (Leviticus 6:5), and the thief who had slaughtered or sold a sheep to pay "four sheep for the sheep" (Exodus 22:1). Zacchaeus binds himself to the heavier measure, fourfold, and gives half of his goods to the poor besides: his repentance takes the shape the Torah gives it.
• 19:10 Yeshua sums up His mission in the words of Yahweh's promise to be the shepherd of His scattered flock: "I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away" (Ezekiel 34:16). The same Greek word for "lost" (apollymi) runs through the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son of chapter 15, and here a son of Abraham whom many had written off is sought and found.
• 19:12 Many note that the story fits recent history: when Herod the Great died, his son Archelaus, whose palace stood at Jericho, went to Rome to receive his kingdom from Caesar, and a delegation of Jews followed him to oppose his rule (Josephus, Antiquities 17). Yeshua tells the parable on the way up to Jerusalem to those who expected the kingdom at once: the King must first go away and receive the kingdom, and His servants are to be faithful until He returns.
• 19:38 The disciples take up Psalm 118:26, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of Yahweh!" (here "the Lord" stands for the name Yahweh, see the note on Matthew 21:9), and Luke alone records that they named Him "the King," as Zechariah 9:9 had said of the One who would come riding on a colt. "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest" echoes the angels' praise at His birth (Luke 2:14).
• 19:44 Yeshua weeps over Jerusalem as Jeremiah wept over "the slain of the daughter of my people" (Jeremiah 9:1). Josephus, who saw the siege of AD 70, describes how the Roman army threw a wall around the city and then leveled it (Jewish War 5-7). "Visitation" is the biblical word for Elohim coming to His people, as in "Elohim will surely visit you" (Genesis 50:24); He came to them in Yeshua.

Luke 18 · Luke 20

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