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|And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
 
|And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
 
|Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Lord, I give half of everything I own to charity, and if I ever blackmailed anybody out of more than they owed (and we both know I did), I give back four times the excess."
 
|Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Lord, I give half of everything I own to charity, and if I ever blackmailed anybody out of more than they owed (and we both know I did), I give back four times the excess."
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|Literally, "if I sycophanted anyone," which, from its root meaning, meant "if I 'showed the fig' on anyone." To "show the fig" meant to plant contraband or similar evidence of a tax law or customs violation on someone and, in essence, extort from him a tax or duty that was not in fact payable. Roman-hired publicans used to do this frequently. Zacchaeus uses a conditional form that signifies a condition that is in all probability a fact.
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|Literally, "if I sycophanted anyone," which, from its root meaning, meant "if I 'showed the fig' on anyone." This expression had its origin in a fig famine in ancient [[Corinth]], during which many customs agents used to plant figs on travelers and cite that as evidence that they were taking figs out of the city, contrary to law, and fine them heavily for this trumped-up offense. Thus, to "show the fig" meant to plant contraband or similar evidence of a tax law or customs violation on someone and, in essence, extort from him a tax or duty that was not in fact payable. Roman-hired publicans used to do this frequently. Zacchaeus uses a conditional form that signifies a condition that is in all probability a fact.
 
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