Then has been expressed as “So” by Good News Translation. Perhaps the most natural rendering in English is that of Barclay: “At that.”

O woman, great is your faith is translated “You are a woman of great faith” by Good News Translation (New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible “Woman, you have great faith”; Moffatt “O woman, you have great faith”). The shift from great is your faith to “you have great faith” is more natural for English speakers, as is the omission of the noun of address, woman, which explains the shift in Good News Bible. Other translations have also recognized these two factors, and a few of them have even dropped the noun of address: both An American Translation and Barclay translate “You have great faith,” and Phillips renders “You certainly don’t lack faith.” It may be necessary to express faith as a verb, which will simultaneously require an object. Examples are “You certainly believe that I will do what you request (or, are begging me to do)” and “You believe in me a great deal.” Some translators have tried to convey that this is really an exclamation by Jesus. One way is to say “Woman, I can see you really have a lot of faith (in me).”

Be it done for you as you desire translates a third person imperative in Greek, which is represented in Jerusalem Bible as “Let your wish be granted.” However, the problem for English speakers is that English does not have a third person imperative, and so many will understand Jerusalem Bible to have the meaning “You yourself permit that it be granted.” One may translate “Your wish will be granted” or “God will grant your wish.”

Instantly (Good News Translation “at that very moment”) is literally “from that hour” (the same form used in 9.22).

In a Greek sentence it is natural for the subject to precede the verb, but here was healed is placed before her daughter for the sake of emphasizing the healing. If it is necessary to shift to an active form of the verb, one may translate “At that very moment God healed her daughter.”

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 .