Luke 20:22

22 Does Torah permit us to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor or not?"

Luke 20:22 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 20:22

Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?
] The Syriac and Persic versions here, as in the other evangelists, render it, "head money". The phrase, "for us", is here added, and on it lies the emphasis, and stress of the question; for the doubt pretended, was not whether it was lawful for the Romans to pay tribute to Caesar, but whether it was lawful for them who were Jews, were Abraham's seed, and, as they boasted, were never in bondage, but were the Lord's free people, to pay tribute to an Heathen emperor, or no.

Luke 20:22 In-Context

20 So they kept a close watch on the situation. They sent spies who hypocritically represented themselves as righteous, so that they might seize hold of something Yeshua said, as an excuse to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor.

21 They put to him this sh'eilah: "Rabbi, we know that you speak and teach straightforwardly, showing no partiality but really teaching what God's way is.

22 Does Torah permit us to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor or not?"

23 But he, spotting their craftiness, said to them,

24 "Show me a denarius! Whose name and picture does it have?" "The Emperor's," they replied.