20:34a

Moved with compassion, Jesus: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Moved with compassion comes from a noun that refers to a person’s intestines. As with many other cultures in the world, Greek culture considered a person’s intestines as the place of strong emotion. In this context, the emotion is pity or compassion. Jesus felt sorry for the blind people. Consider how this sort of emotion is expressed in your language and translate in that way. Here are some English examples:

Jesus’ heart was filled with pity/compassion for them
-or-
Jesus’ heart went out to them

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

Jesus pitied them and
-or-
Jesus felt sorry for them and (Contemporary English Version)

This word also occurs in 18:27a.

touched their eyes: This clause probably indicates that Jesus touched their eyelids with his fingers or placed his hand over their eyes.

20:34b

and at once: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as at once means that as soon as Jesus touched their eyes, they could see.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

Instantly (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
immediately (English Standard Version)

they received their sight: There are two ways to interpret the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as received their sight:

(1) It means that they were able to see again. This implies that when they were born, they were able to see. Then later they became blind. So, when Jesus healed them, they were able to see again. For example:

they regained their sight (New Revised Standard Version)

(New Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, God’s Word, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible)

(2) It means that they were able to see for the first time. This implies that they had been born blind. So, when Jesus healed them, they were able to see for the first time.

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). Here are some other ways to translate this word:

• Use a specific term that means “see again.” For example:

their sight returned (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
they were able to see again

• Use a more general expression that means “see.” For example:

they were able to see (Good News Translation)

20:34c

and followed Him: The verb followed is the same verb as in 20:29. You should translate it the same way in both places.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

This is a total list of references used for writing the Translator’s Notes on Matthew 1–20. These include the recommended reference helps listed in the Introduction to Translator’s Notes on Matthew.

Albright, W. F. and C. S. Mann. Matthew. The Anchor Bible. Garden City: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1971.

Alsop, J. R. An Index to the Revised Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich Greek Lexicon. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981.

Arndt, William F. and F. W. Gingrich. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature. Second Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979.

Barclay, William. The Gospel of Matthew. Daily Bible Study Series. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975.

Bass, Louise. How the Jews Lived Shell Book (CD-ROM). Papua New Guinea: SIL PNG, 1971.

Bauer, Walter F. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Revised and edited by Frederick W. Danker, 3d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. (Cited as BDAG.)

Beck, William F. The New Testament in the Language of Today. Saint Louis: Concordia, 1964.

Bihn, M. and J. Bealings. The New Bible Symbols: The Bible in Pictures. Chicago: John A. Hertel Company, 1922.

Blomberg Craig L. Matthew. Vol. 22. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1992.

Bratcher, Robert G. (editor). Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament. London: United Bible Societies, 1967.

———. A Translator’s Guide to the Gospel of Matthew. London: United Bible Societies, 1981.

Bruce, A. B. The Synoptic Gospels. In W. Robertson Nicoll (editor), Expositor’s Greek Testament Volume 1. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970.

Bruner, Frederick Dale. Matthew: A Commentary. Volume 1: The Christbook, Matthew 1–12. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2007.

Buttrick, George Arthur. The interpreter’s Bible. New York: Abington Press, 1951.

Carlton, Matthew. A Translator’s Reference Translation of Matthew. Dallas: SIL International, 2001.

Carson, D. A. Matthew. Pages 1–599 in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, volume 8. Edited by Frank E. Gaebelein. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984.

Clipart Warehouse. Volume 2, CD-ROM. CDRP, Inc., 1995.

Davies, W. D. and Dale C. Allison. The Gospel According to Saint Matthew. Vol. 1. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark LTD, 1988.

———. The Gospel According to Saint Matthew. Vol. II. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark LTD, 1991.

Douglas, J. D. (organizing editor). New Bible Dictionary (second edition). Leicester: Intervarsity/Wheaton: Tyndale, 1982.

———(editor). The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament (with the 4th/corrected edition of the Greek New Testament text). Wheaton: Tyndale, 1990.

Dyk, Carolyn. Black and White Illustrations by Carolyn Dyk: Illustrations used in Daily Life in Bible Times. Dallas: Wycliffe Bible Translators, 2001.

Filson, Floyd Vivian. A Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew. Black’s New Testament Commentaries. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1971.

Fox, Michael V. Proverbs 1–9. Anchor Bible 18a. New York: Doubleday, 2000.

France, R. T. The Gospel of Matthew. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.

———. Matthew. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Leicester, England: Intervarsity Press, 1985.

Gibbs, Jeffrey A. Matthew 1:1–11:1. Concordia Commentary. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2006.

Hagner, Donald A. Matthew 1–13. Word Biblical Commentary, volume 33A. Dallas: Word Books, 1993.

Hendriksen, William. New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1973.

Hill, David. The New Century Bible Commentary: the Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972.

International Illustrations: The Art of Reading 2.0. Dallas: SIL International, 2001.

Keener, Craig S. A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999.

———. Matthew. The IVP Bible Background Commentary. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1993.

Kittel, G. and G. Friedrich. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Translated and edited by G. W. Bromiley. 10 volumes. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964–1976.

Lenski, R. C. H. The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1943.

Louw, J. P. and Eugene A. Nida. Greek-English Lexicon (of the New Testament, based on semantic domains). 2 volumes. New York: United Bible Societies, 1988.

Marshall, Alfred. Revised Standard Version Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, with the Nestle Greek Text. (Literal English translation: 1958.) Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970.

Meyer, H. A. W. Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Gospel of Matthew. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1884.

Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1992.

Mounce, Robert, H. Matthew. New International Biblical Commentary. Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 1991.

Newman, Barclay M. and Philip C. Stine. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. New York: United Bible Societies, 1988.

Nolland, John. The Gospel of Matthew: A Commentary on the Greek Text. The New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005.

Osborne, Grant R. Matthew. Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010.

Pfeiffer, Charles F. and Everett F. Harrison. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary. Chicago: Moody. 1962.

Plummer, Alfred. An Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to S. Matthew. Thornapple Commentaries. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1953.

Tasker, R. V. G. The Gospel According to St. Matthew. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961.

Tehan, Thomas M. and David Abernathy. An Exegetical Summary of the Sermon on the Mount. Dallas: SIL International, 2003.

Turner, David L. Matthew. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.

Turner, Nigel. Syntax. A Grammar of New Testament Greek. Vol. 3. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1963

Vine, W. E. Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Old Tappan: Revell, 1940.

Van Otterloo, Roger. “Towards an understanding of ‘lo’ and ‘behold’: functions of ἰδού and ἴδε in the Greek New Testament.” Occasional Papers in Translation and Text Linguistics 2(1):34–64. Dallas: SIL, 1988.

Wilkins, Michael J. Matthew. The New International Version Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2004.

Young, R. Analytical Concordance to the Bible. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970.

Bible Versions

Berean Standard Bible. Berean Standard Bible Publishing, 2023 (cited as Berean Standard Bible).

La Bible du Semeur. Société Biblique Internationale, 1999.

La Bible en Français Courant. Villiers-le-Bel: Societe biblique française, 1982, 1997.

Common English Bible. Nashville, Tenn.: Common English Bible, 2011.

Contemporary English Version. New York: American Bible Society, 1995 (cited as Contemporary English Version).

God’s Word. Grand Rapids, Mich.: World Publishing, 1995 (cited as God’s Word).

Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Bibles, 2001 (2007 text edition) (cited as English Standard Version).

Holy Bible, New International Version
^®. Colorado Springs, Col.: Biblica, Inc., 1973, 1978, 1984, 1993 (cited as New International Version), 2011 (cited as NIV2011).

Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1996 (cited as New Living Translation (1996)), revised 2004 (cited as New Living Translation (2004)).

Kibaro Diman. (Le Nouveau Testament en dioula de Côte d’Ivoire). Société Biblique Internationale, 1994.

King James Version (Authorized Version). 1611 (cited as King James Version).

Living Bible. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1971 (cited as Living Bible).

NET Bible Bible: New English Translation. First Edition. Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C., 1996–2005 (cited as NET Bible).

New American Standard Bible. Nashville, Tenn.: Holman, 1995 (cited as New American Standard Bible).

New Century Version (also published as The Everyday Bible). Dallas: Word, 1991 (cited as New Century Version).

The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday, 1985 (cited as New Jerusalem Bible). (Jerusalem Bible revised)

New King James Version. Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, 1982 (cited as New King James Version).

New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989 (cited as New Revised Standard Version). (Revised Standard Version revised)

New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version. Fort Worth: World Bible Translation Center, 1978.

Le Nouveau Testament en Français fundamental avec Psaumes. Villiers-le-Bel: Societe biblique française, 1997.

Nouvelle Version Segond révisée (Bible à la Colombe). Villiers-le-Bel, France: Société biblique française, 1980.

Parole de Vie. Villiers-le-Bel: Societe biblique française, 2000.

Phillips, J. B. The New Testament in Modern English. New York: Macmillan, 1958 (cited as Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English).

The Revised English Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989 (New English Bible revised, cited as Revised English Bible).

The Simple English Bible, New Testament. New York: International Bible Publishing Co., Inc. 1981.

Revised Standard Version. New York: Thomas Nelson, 1952 (cited as Revised Standard Version).

Good News Translation (also published as Today’s English Version). New York: American Bible Society, 1976 (cited as Good News Translation).

Traduction Oecumenique de la Bible. Paris: Société Biblique Française, 1988.

Tree of Life, The New Covenant. (The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Project.) Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 2011.

U Bulungana u Niga tere Iesu Kristo (The Good News of Jesus Christ). The New Testament in the Halia language. Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, 1978.