He told them another parable is a slightly different introduction from that of verses 24 and 31, but the meaning and function is the same. Again, many translators will render He as “Jesus.” Also, as with the others, the parable may have to be introduced by “He said.”
The kingdom of heaven is like … translates the same form found in verse 31; see comments there. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, tying this verse closely with the preceding, translates “Or it is just like what happens with yeast.” INCL renders “When God reigns, the situation will be as yeast which a woman took….” Another way to show this link with the previous parable is to start the parable by saying “God’s rule is also like this: a woman took…” or “God’s rule can also be said to be like this: a woman….” Notice that in these examples, a woman is the subject.
In Jewish thought leaven (Good News Translation “yeast”) symbolizes what is unclean or sinful; all traces of yeast had to be removed from the Jewish household before Passover. In the parable, however, no negative implications are intended. In fact, as with the symbol of the tree and the birds, the figure of yeast may have been chosen as an indirect allusion to the inclusion of the Gentiles. But it is obvious that this sort of information is not allowable in translation.
Leaven poses some difficulty in areas where it is not well known. Some translators have looked for other fermenting agents in their own cultures and modified that for this verse. For example, some African translations say “(the substance like) beer froth that makes the bread dough to expand.” A more general word such as “condiment” or “medicine” can sometimes be used. Such words can be modified by the function of yeast, as in “the medicine (or, condiment) that makes the bread dough ferment (or, expand).” As bread is becoming more and more prevalent in the world, the word leaven is often borrowed at the same time. Translations will then either have the borrowed form alone or in a phrase such as “leaven that ferments bread dough.”
Hid is translated as “mixes” by Good News Translation, which seems more appropriate in this context.
Three measures (Good News Translation “a bushel”) represents an enormous amount of flour, amounting to approximately 39.4 liters or 50 pounds. It is estimated that the bread baked from this amount of dough would be sufficient for more than one hundred persons. The use of exaggerated numbers and amounts is characteristic of parables and of proverbial sayings. Translators sometimes translate three measures as “three containers” or as three of some well-known local equivalent measure such as “three pans.” The other choice would be to use whatever the local way would be of speaking of approximately 50 pounds or 39.4 liters of flour, much as Good News Bible does with “a bushel.”
Till it was all leavened (Good News Translation “until the whole batch of dough rises”) is translated “till it was leavened all though” by New Jerusalem Bible. In New American Bible the sentence is as follows: “Eventually the whole mass of dough began to rise.”
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 .