He will not wrangle or cry aloud (Good News Translation “He will not argue or shout”) is slightly different from the Hebrew text, which is “He will not shout or raise his voice.” This statement about the Messiah fits well in Matthew’s context. Jesus has been verbally attacked by the Pharisees, and they have even decided to kill him, but he withdraws and refuses to argue with them or shout about what he is doing.
Wrangle (also Moffatt and An American Translation) occurs only here in the New Testament. It is possible, as some commentators suggest, that the word may be intended as a legal technical term. The meaning would then be “defend one’s self” or “present one’s own case.” Translations, however, do not seem to reflect this interpretation. New Jerusalem Bible has “brawl,” New English Bible “strive,” Good News Translation “argue.” Barclay combines the two verbs, “He will not be a loud-mouthed man of strife.” Translators who understand wrangle as Good News Translation has will use words like “dispute,” or “quarrel,” or “disagree violently with people.” Note that in many languages one must argue with someone, “with people” in a context like this.
The word translated cry aloud may mean either “cry out for help” or “cry out with excitement.” Or it may assume a more neutral function, as with “shout” in English (so Good News Translation, Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt, New English Bible). Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition is similar to Good News Bible, but the translators evidently intend a play on words: streiten oder schreien. Cry aloud does not refer to just one event but rather to habitual action, as in “He won’t go about making a lot of noise,” “He won’t always be shouting loudly,” or “He won’t be a person who shouts a lot.”
Nor will any one hear his voice appears in a quite different form in Good News Translation (“make loud speeches”), though both structures have the same two kernel sentences: “he speaks” and “someone hears.” Most English translations maintain the form of the Greek text, though New English Bible and New American Bible shift to the passive “nor will his voice be heard….” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders “he will not make loud speeches.”
Translators can follow either model for hear his voice, the one with the emphasis on other people hearing, or the other with the emphasis on him speaking. The former will result in translations such as “people won’t be hearing him on every street corner” or “the public won’t be hearing him out in the streets.” The latter will result in “he won’t be out in the streets making speeches” or “he won’t be speaking loudly and publicly out in the towns all the time.”
In the streets identifies the place of speaking as being public rather than private. Many languages can express this idiomatically. Note that in the streets has been rendered in these examples as “on every street corner” and “in the towns,” as well as literally.
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 .