Verses 11-12 form a parallel to verse 10; they apply verse 10 specifically to the persecuted disciples and the Church. In the face of opposition and oppression, Jesus’ promise becomes a reality here and now. This explains the shift to the second person pronoun you, which also anticipates the transition to verses 13-16.
When here means “on those occasions,” “at those times when,” or “whenever.”
Revile (Good News Translation “insult”) is used of strong verbal abuse (see 27.44; 1 Peter 4.14). One commentator notes that the Jews considered verbal abuse to be extremely vicious. The rabbis considered it as evil as idolatry, fornication, and bloodshed all combined. By defamation of character a person lost his place in the community and, according to the circumstance of that day, almost the possibility of continuing his life. The insulting word itself was believed to have a power of its own. Revile can be translated “say evil about” or “say you are bad.” Many translators in West Africa use the idiom “spoil your name.”
For persecute, see comments on verse 10. Here translations can have “whenever people make you suffer” or “when people harm you.”
There is a textual problem regarding the adverb falsely. The UBS Greek text includes the word within square brackets, and the reason, according to TC-GNT, is that it may not have been an original part of the text. On the one hand, its absence may be accounted for as a scribal attempt to make the passage resemble the Lukan form (Luke 6.22). On the other hand, scribes would have been tempted to insert the word in order to limit an overgeneralization of Jesus’ teaching, and to express specifically what was believed to be implied by the very nature of Jesus’ words. But whether it is regarded as an integral part of the text or a later addition, it does explain the true meaning of the text, and this information must somehow be conveyed through translation. So then, whether on textual or translational grounds, it has been retained in a number of translations. For example, it is found in Revised Standard Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Good News Translation: (“tell all kinds of evil lies”), though omitted by New English Bible and Phillips.
To translate utter all kinds of evil against you falsely, phrases such as “say bad things about you that aren’t true” or “tell all kinds of wicked lies about you” can be used.
The phrase on my account is taken by Good News Translation to mean “because you are my followers.” Most translations follow the text literally, while Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “because you belong to me.”
A translation of on my account such as “for my sake” is also literal, but many translations have used it. “Because they are against me” is less so, although the clearest translation would be very similar to either Good News Translation or Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch: “because you follow me” or “because you are my people.”
This sentence is longer than those in verses 3-10, but it can still be made to flow smoothly: “Whenever people say evil about you and do harm to you, and tell all kinds of wicked lies about you simply because you follow me, then you are in a good position,” or “… you are fortunate,” or “… you are happy.”
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 .