Now when Jesus had finished these sayings is the fourth in a series of five summary statements which signify the conclusion of major divisions within the Gospel (7.28; 11.1; 13.53; 26.1). The phrase is almost exactly the same as the one in 7.28, and translators should refer to the comment there. Beginning in chapter 19 Matthew returns to the Marcan order of events, which he follows in broad outline throughout the remainder of the Gospel. Chapter 19 deals with three topics: (1) marriage (verses 1-12); (2) children (verses 13-15); and (3) possessions (verses 16-30).
He went away from Galilee signifies that Jesus has now concluded his Galilean ministry. The verb translated went away is found in the New Testament only here and in 13.53, which is also one of Matthew’s summary statements.
As elsewhere, Galilee will often be “the region of Galilee.”
The region of Judea beyond the Jordan is a strange statement, inasmuch as there was no Judea east of the Jordan River. It is possible (though highly improbable on the basis of the Greek text) to assume that Matthew is describing a journey to Judea by way of a trans-Jordan route as opposed to a journey through Samaria. If this is the case, then Jesus would have followed the east side of the Jordan River through a portion of Decapolis (the territory of the ten Greek cities) and then through Perea, where he would have crossed the Jordan River at a place near Jericho. From there he would have gone to Jerusalem. Even if this is what happened, this is not what Matthew says, and one is limited by the information provided by Matthew. All translations are faithful to the meaning of the text except Living Bible, which renders “he left Galilee and circled back to Judea from across the Jordan River.” This is not acceptable, of course, and translators should instead do something similar to Good News Translation: (“territory of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River”) or Barclay (“that part of Judaea which lies on the far side of the Jordan”).
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 .