And in anger (Good News Translation “was very angry”) translates a participle which is given a position of emphasis in the Greek sentence. New English Bible renders “And so angry was the master,” and Barclay “The master was furious.”

Once again Good News Translation substitutes “The king” for his lord in order to maintain continuity throughout the parable. See verses 27 and 31.

The king delivered him, or possibly better, “handed him over” (Barclay) or “ordered his servants to take the man.”

To the jailers (Good News Translation “to jail to be punished”) is more literally “to the torturers” (New Jerusalem Bible), as RSV’s footnote points out. New English Bible has “he condemned the man to torture.” Torture was not allowed among the Jews, though it is known to have been used by Herod the Great. But in other countries of the ancient Near East torture was regularly used, especially in cases of a disloyal governor or one who was late in the payment of taxes. The mention of “torture” is to intensify the degree of punishment which the man would receive. For this reason many translate the phrase as “to the people who would punish him” or “to the people (in jail) who would make him suffer.”

Till he should pay all his debt is almost word-for-word the same as the last part of verse 30, except for the inclusion of the modifier all. That is, the man’s own punishment is described in terms of the punishment which he inflicted on his fellow servant. Moreover, the man’s situation is helpless and his punishment is endless, because there is no opportunity for him to make restoration.

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 .