Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel: a lamp would be placed under a bushel (Good News Translation “bowl”) solely in order to hide it. It would be totally absurd for someone to light a lamp for the purpose of supplying light for a one-room Palestinian house, and then immediately hide it.

Nor indicates a continuation of the thought from the previous verse. Translators sometimes say “further” or “similarly.”

Men may be “people,” but when the negative component from Nor is added, it may be translated as “No one,” as in Good News Translation. If the singular “No one” is used, then English will normally speak of lighting a lamp. However, if “people” or “men” is used, it will be more natural to speak of lighting “lamps.”

A lamp may be a “lantern” or “light.” But “candle,” used by some, would be wrong, since candles were not in use in Palestine at that time.

The word translated bushel is a Latin loan word which originally referred to a grain measure containing about 8.75 liters, or almost exactly one peck. Elsewhere in the New Testament it occurs only in Mark 4.21 and Luke 11.33. In this passage the size of the vessel is not so important as its function, that is, to hide the light of the lamp. If there is no exact equivalent of a bushel in an area, then translators may use some other kind of container that would effectively hide a lamp were it placed over it. Such objects include “basket,” “calabash,” or “large bowl.”

The light is placed on a stand, “a place where lamps are placed,” “a high table for the lamp,” or “a shelf for the lamp.”

All means all the people, as Good News Translation shows.

It gives light to all in the house presupposes a one-room structure in which a lamp is placed in a position where it can give light to the entire area. The context allows for light to be taken as a reference to the disciples, the preaching of the disciples, Jesus himself, or the preaching of Jesus. Fortunately, this is something the translator need not and should not make explicit. The sentence can be translated “it is placed on a stand where it lights up the house for everyone” or “it is put in its place so that everyone in the house can have light.”

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 .