The verb went out is in the imperfect tense in Greek and suggests repeated action. In Greek the subject of the verb went out is Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan (that is, the region near where the Jordan River empties into the Dead Sea). What is meant, of course, is that the people of these regions went out. The use of all in both occurrences is a typical idiomatic expression in Hebrew; the meaning here is “many of the people from….”

The requirements of the receptor language will determine whether the form went out to him or “came to him” (Good News Translation) is better. Translators in many languages will find it natural to retain the sense of repeated action that is carried by the imperfect tense of went. They might have “people in Jerusalem used to go out” or “were going out.” To him may be “to where he was.” Also it is sometimes necessary to say why they were going out, as in “to hear him” or “to listen to him.”

No translator wants to give the impression that it was the city of Jerusalem or the province of Judea that went to see him. It was the people from there. Whether to say “all the people,” “many of the people,” or just “people” will depend on what expression the language will normally have.

Since Jerusalem has already been mentioned several times in the Gospel, it may not be necessary to say “the city of Jerusalem,” but the province in which Jerusalem was located, Judea, will be sufficiently unfamiliar to many readers that translators will need to say “region (or, province) of Judea.”

Similarly, Jordan is a river, so translations often follow the example of Good News Translation, with a phrase such as “people from all over the region near the Jordan River.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .