And they took offense at him translates a Semitic idiom which Good News Translation represents as “And so they rejected him.” The same verb occurs earlier in the chapter (verse 21) as well as in 11.6, with similar meaning. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “And they would have nothing to do with him,” New Jerusalem Bible “And they would not accept him.” Some will have “And they would not believe in him” or “They refused to have anything to do with him.”

Jesus’ response to the people who reject him (A prophet is not … except … own house) is considered a proverbial statement by a number of scholars. Good News Translation alters the difficulty of the compound negative (not without … except) to a more simplified positive expression: “A prophet is respected everywhere except….” Another way to express this is “Everyone respects (or, People everywhere respect) a prophet except those in his own town and his own family.”

Some translators who have understood this statement to be proverbial have wanted to substitute a local proverb with the same meaning, but this is probably not necessary, since the meaning here is quite clear.

For comments on prophet, see 1.22.

Own country: see comments on verse 54.

House obviously refers to people rather than to a physical structure; both Good News Translation and New English Bible have “family.”

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 .