Template:5057

5057 ~τελώνης~ telones \@tel-o’-nace\@ from 5056 and 5608; n m AV-publican 22; 22

1) a renter or farmer of taxes

1a) among the Romans, usually a man of equestrian rank

2) a tax gatherer, collector of taxes or tolls, one employed by a publican or farmer general in the collection of taxes. The tax collectors were as a class, detested not only by the Jews, but by other nations also, both on account of their employment and of the harshness, greed, and deception, with which they did their job.