He may require identification as “Jesus,” and went ashore may necessitate an indication of prior action, “got out of the boat.” In fact the verb went ashore literally means “got out”; the problem is that the text does not state what it was that Jesus got out of. Phillips (“When Jesus emerged from his retreat”) is unlikely. More likely is the meaning “out of the boat” (An American Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Good News Translation) or “disembarked” (Moffatt, Barclay, New American Bible); went ashore, “stepped ashore” (New Jerusalem Bible), and “came ashore” (New English Bible) assume departure from a boat.

Throng is the singular form of the word “crowds” of verse 13; Good News Translation translates great throng as “large crowd.”

He had compassion (Good News Translation “his heart was filled with pity”) literally means “his insides were stirred up.” This can also be rendered as “he felt very sorry for them” or by a figurative expression from the receptor language. Some West African languages use an expression such as “his stomach (or heart, or liver) was hot (or, sad) because of them.”

The noun translated sick occurs only here in Matthew; elsewhere in the New Testament it is found in Mark 6.5, 13; 1 Corinthians 11.30. The literal meaning of the noun is “powerless,” though it may also mean “sick, ill.” Of course their sick refers to “people (among them) who were sick” or “the sick people there.”

The relations between the verbs in this verse are slightly different in the Revised Standard Version text (As he went … he saw … and he had compassion … and healed) and in Good News Translation: (“Jesus got out … and when he saw … his heart was filled … and he healed”). Translators should be careful to structure the sentence in the way that will be most natural in their language.

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 .