Bag (Good News Translation “beggar’s bag,” Barclay “beggar’s knapsack”) is translated many different ways: “haversack” (New Jerusalem Bible), “pack” (New English Bible), “traveling bag” (New American Bible), “knapsack” (Phillips), “bag” (An American Translation), and “wallet” (Moffatt). The problem is that the word may refer in general to any sort of bag that a traveler may put his things in or it may have the specialized sense of a bag carried by a beggar. As the survey of translations suggests, there is no agreement among scholars. Therefore translators can say either something like “bag for travelers” or “bag carried by beggars.” Obviously the apostles were to carry nothing with them when they went out.
Two tunics (New Jerusalem Bible “spare tunic”) is translated “an extra shirt” by Good News Translation, “no change of shirt” by New American Bible, and “second coat” by New English Bible. The noun tunics is the same one used in 5.40, though the singular form appears there. The meaning is that the disciple is not to wear one garment and carry another for a change of clothing. To do so would signal either affluence or a settled existence from which the disciple would not be free to travel. Tunics, as in 5.40, can be rendered “shirts” or by some similar garment, or perhaps by a general word like “garment” or “clothing.”
The prohibition against sandals and staff (Good News Translation “walking stick”) is strange, especially in a land where snakes are ever present. Some scholars believe that it reflects an ancient cultic prohibition against entering the Temple court area with dirty feet or with such attire as sandals, a bag, or a walking stick. Or it may be, as other scholars suggest, that the disciples are supposed to stand before the people they serve much as a man who is fasting and praying stands before God, without shoes on his feet or a stick in his hand. In cultures where sandals are not known, “shoes” (Good News Translation) is an acceptable translation.
In some languages, instead of having the verb once and then a long list of things the disciples were not to take on their trip, it is better to repeat the verb, as in “Nor should you take a bag or extra shirt…” or “Also you should not carry with you a bag….”
The word for shows the relationship between what preceded and the statement about the worker deserving to receive his keep. Jesus says that the apostles should take nothing with them when they travel because workers deserve to be supported, and thus the apostles are to depend on the goodwill of the people to whom they were ministering. Some languages make the relationship clear with a phrase such as “For it is true” or “I tell you this because.” Others simply say “Because” or “For.” Good News Translation has conveyed the relationship in English by starting a new sentence.
Laborer means the same as “worker” in this context.
Deserves means “deserves to receive from his employer” or “earns from the person for whom he works”; Good News Translation shifts to a passive “should be given.”
His food (so also An American Translation) is translated “his keep” by Phillips, New Jerusalem Bible, Barclay; “his rations” by Moffatt; and “what he needs” by Good News Translation. The root meaning of the word is “nourishment” or “food,” and its specific rendering must be determined by the context in which it is used. See comments on 3.4; 6.25.
Deserves his food, in addition to the models cited above, can also be rendered in sentences such as “it is right for a worker to receive his keep” or “a worker should receive (or, deserves to receive) what he needs to live on.”
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 .