The master of that servant … and put him with agrees word for word with Luke 12.46. The difference comes at the end, where Matthew has the hypocrites and Luke has “the unfaithful.” There men will weep and gnash their teeth, one of Matthew’s favorite formulas (see 8.12), is not to be found in the Lukan parallel.

The connection between verse 50 and the previous one depends on the if-clause in verses 48-49: “if that wicked servant … begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with the drunken, then his master will arrive at a time when the servant does not expect him.”

When he does not expect him is potentially ambiguous, and so Good News Translation identifies the pronominal subject: “when the servant does not expect him.” It is possible to translate all of verse 50 as “Then the servant’s master will come back at the day and the time when the servant does not expect him” or, with even fewer words, “Then one day his master will come back fully unexpected” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

As the RSV footnote indicates, punish may also be translated “cut in pieces.” The root meaning of the verb is to dismember a person who has been condemned to death, though the only other place in the New Testament where the verb is used suggests the meaning “punish with absolute severity” (Luke 12.46).

Put him with is translated “make him share the fate of” by Good News Translation; it is also possible to render “treat him the same way that hypocrites are treated” or “give him the same punishment that one gives hypocrites.”

Hypocrites was discussed at 6.2. Despite the fact that in Matthew this is one of the worst things that Jesus says about certain people, it does seem a little strange in this context. Barclay has rendered it “those whose religion is only a pretence.” “Those who pretend to be faithful to God but aren’t” may also be good.

Weep and gnash their teeth was discussed at 8.12.

Verses 48-51 also need to be translated together if they are to sound natural in the receptor language. An example is:

• But if that servant is wicked, he will think to himself that his master will be gone for some time, and therefore he can begin to beat the other servants of the household and spend his time eating and drinking with drunkards. But then the master will come home totally unexpectedly, and he will punish that servant and treat him the same way that people are treated who only pretend to obey God. And those people cry out and gnash their teeth in pain.

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 .