It is enough … like his teacher: Good News Translation shifts away from the impersonal structure of the Greek to “So a pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher.”

Some translators may feel they have to say in what way the pupil should be like his teacher. If so, they may say “learn as much as his teacher knows” or “be as wise as his teacher.” Similarly, a slave should be satisfied “to be as important (or, as powerful) as his owner.”

If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul … is a saying unique to the Gospel of Matthew. The name Beelzebul occurs in this Gospel twice again in the controversy of 12.22-32, and in each instance it functions as Satan. Most modern translations follow the spelling of the Greek manuscripts (Good News Translation “Beelzebul”), though New English Bible adopts that contained in the Latin Vulgate (“Beelzebub”). The origin of the Greek word is uncertain, though the spelling “Beelzebub” appears to have originated from an attempt to identify this name with the god of the Philistine city of Ekron (2 Kgs 1.2). The readers should understand from the translation that Beelzebul is Satan: “If they call the head of the family Satan” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Translators can then add a footnote stating that the original text used another of Satan’s names, Beelzebul. See also comments on 4.1. Some translators prefer to put Beelzebul in the text and have a note, either in parenthesis, “(that is, Satan),” or in a footnote that says “this is another name for Satan.”

The impersonal they have called is equivalent to “is called” (Good News Translation) or “people have called.” It can also be “People have said about the head of the family, ‘He is Beelzebul’ ” or “People have said that the head of the family is Beelzebul.”

Master of the house, as seen in the examples above, is “head of the family” or “head of the household.”

How much more will they malign is “will be called even worse names” in Good News Translation. Malign means to speak harmful lies about, or to slander. Jesus is saying, therefore, that people who have called the head of the family Satan will say even worse lies about the members of the family, or call them even more terrible names.

Those of his household (Good News Translation “the members of the family”) includes everyone living in the household, including slaves. The second clause may be rendered “they will say even worse things about the members of his family” or “they will call the members of the family even worse names.”

Note that the construction with If does not ask whether the head of the family has been called Beelzebul, but rather carries the meaning seen in “Since people have called … then they will” or “In light of the fact that they have called … how much more.”

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 .