Passage

Luke 18.13

Book: Luke · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"11. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get."

"13. But the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God, be thou merciful to me a sinner."

"14. I say unto you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 15. And they were bringing unto him also their babes, that he should touch them: but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them." (Luke 18:11-15, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"11. The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: ‘God, I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men, extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.’"

"13. But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’"

"14. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” 15. They were also bringing their babies to him, that he might touch them. But when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them." (Luke 18:11-15, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"11. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess."

"13. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner."

"14. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 15. And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them." (Luke 18:11-15, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"11. the Pharisee having stood by himself, thus prayed: God, I thank Thee that I am not as the rest of men, rapacious, unrighteous, adulterers, or even as this tax-gatherer; 12. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all things, as many as I possess."

"13. 'And the tax-gatherer, having stood afar off, would not even the eyes lift up to the heaven, but was smiting on his breast, saying, God be propitious to me, the sinner!"

"14. I say to you, this one went down declared righteous, to his house, rather than that one: for every one who is exalting himself shall be humbled, and he who is humbling himself shall be exalted.' 15. And they were bringing near also the babes, that he may touch them, and the disciples having seen did rebuke them," (Luke 18:11-15, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Jesus, narrating the parable; the tax collector, voicing the prayer-line
Audience: "certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others" (Luke 18:9)
Location: the Jerusalem temple (the parable's setting, "two men went up into the temple to pray", v. 10); narrated en route to Jerusalem (Luke 17:11 - 19:27 travel narrative)
Time period: the final Jerusalem ascent, c. AD 30 or AD 33

Theological reading

Luke 18:13 is the only NT use of [[G2433 - hilaskomai|hilaskomai]] (G2433) in personal-prayer form: ho theos, hilasthēti moi tō hamartōlō ("God, be propitiated [be merciful, atone] toward me, the sinner"). The verb is aorist passive imperative, hilasthēti, and the worshipper requests that the divine wrath-aversion of the atonement-cultus be applied to himself, the sinner (note the article: tō hamartōlō, "the sinner", the tax collector implicates himself as the paradigmatic offender, not as one offender among many).

Critically: the prayer is offered in the temple, during the hour of incense (Luke 18:10), which Luke's first-century audience would recognize as the very hour the priest performs the daily atoning offering on behalf of the people (Exod 30:7-8; Lk 1:9-10, the same scene at Zacharias's vision). The tax collector's hilasthēti is asking for the personal application of the Day-of-Atonement coverage that the cultus mediates. He stands makrothen ("afar off"), refusing to lift his eyes, beating his breast in mourning posture, the entire bodily semiotics is sinner-at-the-mercy-seat.

The verdict that follows is decisive: "this man went down to his house justified rather than the other" (katebē houtos dedikaiōmenos, perfect passive participle of dikaioō, "having been declared righteous, in a settled state"). The grammar is forensic-declarative: the tax collector left the temple in a new legal-covenantal status, declared righteous by God's verdict, on the strength of his prayer for propitiation-application. The verse is the load-bearing Synoptic anchor for forensic-justification and for the imputation-by-propitiation pattern Paul develops at Rom 3:21-26 (the hilastērion passage).

The contrast with the Pharisee, who prayed pros heauton ("with himself" or "to himself", v. 11), thanking God for his moral distinctness from "the rest of men" including this tax collector, exposes self-righteousness as the structural opposite of justification-by-propitiation. The Pharisee's posture appeals to merit; the tax collector's appeals to atonement. Only the second is heard. The pericope is foundational for Justification by Faith and for the Reformation's simul iustus et peccator ("at once righteous and a sinner") formulation.

Key words

G2433 - hilaskomai, hilaskomai, the verb (aorist passive imperative hilasthēti); the load-bearing lexeme. Asks for the atonement-cultus's propitiation-coverage to be applied personally.
dikaioō (G1344), "to declare righteous, justify", the verdict-verb that names the result; perfect passive participle dedikaiōmenos signals settled, declarative-forensic status.
hamartōlos (G268), "sinner", with definite article tō hamartōlō, "the sinner"; self-implication as paradigmatic offender.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.