In fact, the choice of this particular verse as the beginning of a new chapter is altogether queer in light of the verses immediately preceding and following Luke 19:1; and likewise in light of how late in Jesus of Nazareth's rambling Sabbath- day- rant the verse occurs. What became Luke 19:2 would have been a more appropriate choice for the beginning paragraph of a new chapter than that verse the translators chose. The added word in Luke 19:1 covers this vanity up, to some extent.
The last verse of Luke 18 reads: “And immediately [a blind beggar] received his sight, and followed [Jesus of Nazareth], glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God [Luke 18:43].”
"And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho [Luke 19:1]": according to the next verse (with the translators' editorial ‘help’). Adding “Jesus” to the text of Luke 19:1 was the only way to make the verse seem like an appropriate opening sentence to the first paragraph of the next chapter. “Jesus,” in this case, is a square peg in a round hole.
However: the text of Luke 19:1 reads fine, in situ, without the arbitrary editorial indiscretion exercised by the translators. In light of the text of the next 24- to- 26 verses (not to mention the preceding seven chapters), wherein “the multitude“ of scribes, lawyers, Pharisees, publicans, and sinners is the subject of the text by virtue of being the target and inspiration of Jesus of Nazareth’s rants: the text reads more sensibly if the nineteenth chapter of Luke were to begin where the translators arbitrated Luke 19:2. Furthermore, this should have been done without adding a word (and that a proper name, of all things) to the text of what the translators chose as the first sentence of the first paragraph of a new chapter.
Without the jigsaw- wizardry of the translators, the passage would read: “And immediately [a blind beggar] received his sight, and followed [Jesus of Nazareth], glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God; and entered and passed through Jericho." This makes better sense, contextually, inasmuch as some of the multitude in attendance had perhaps followed Jesus of Nazareth from as far away as Capernaum, haranguing (and occasionally praising) him the whole way. [This was a relatively short trip (from Capernaum to Jerusalem) of somewhere- in- the- neighborhood- of eighty miles; and Jesus of Nazareth took perhaps a fortnight or more to traverse it (on foot), no doubt due– in no small part– to the harangue of the multitude along the way.]
Therefore it's noteworthy that the multitude of Jesus' detractors and supporters followed him through Jericho. The text of the beginning of Matthew 21:9 indicates some followed Jesus all the way to Jerusalem while others who were obviously less- encumbered with arguments and challenges from their peers “went before.” They (like he) were going to Jerusalem in observance of Passover, after all. Some of Jesus' harshest critics may have been among the naked who “spread their clothes in the way [Luke 19:36],” and “...cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest [Matthew 21:9].”
I suppose forcing “Jesus” take center stage sells more Bibles, even if it is an unnatural fit. That's the only thing about the translators' treatment of Luke 19:1 that makes any sense to me.
