telones identifies a person engaged in tax collection, named individually or spoken of as part of a group.

The noun identifies a person engaged in tax collection, whether an individual such as Levi or a member of a plural group. The same designation occurs in accounts of baptism, shared meals, prayer, and comparisons involving belief or conduct, without displaying a separate lexical use.

1. Person engaged in tax collection · dominant

   The singular form identifies Levi at the tax booth in Luke 5:27, where the APB renders the clause, "saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth." Plural forms identify groups who come for baptism in Luke 3:12, dine with Jesus and his disciples in Mark 2:15, and are paired with prostitutes as those who believed John in Matthew 21:32. In Luke 18:13, the singular identifies the man who stands at a distance and prays for mercy.

   Luke 5:27Luke 3:12Mark 2:15Matthew 21:32Luke 18:13Matthew 10:3

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the cited verses, the APB regularly presents the singular and plural forms as "tax collector" and "tax collectors." Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, its wording confirms the verse-level presentation rather than establishing finer distinctions.