Now is not to be translated literally. It marks the beginning of a new episode in the narrative. Further, in many languages it is not normal to use when unless somehow the passage had already indicated that Jesus was heading toward Caesarea Philippi. For this reason translators often begin the verse simply with “Jesus went to (or, arrived in) the district of Caesarea Philippi.” Another common way is “Jesus went to the area of Caesarea Philippi. When he arrived there….”

Came translates a participle which a number of translations render as a dependent clause: when … came (Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). But it is also possible to represent this construction as an independent clause, as in Good News Translation: “Jesus went.” The choice between came and “went” will depend upon the expectations of the receptor language.

The district of Caesarea Philippi: Good News Translation qualifies the of phrase and identifies Caesarea Philippi as a town, since this is the first time that the name is mentioned in the Gospel: “the territory near the town of Caesarea Philippi.” The town is located on the southeastern slope of Mount Hermon.

Men is definitely to be understood in the sense of “people” (Good News Translation).

Say in this sentence does not simply mean to say something one time. The meaning is more like “are saying”; that is, Jesus was asking what people were saying about him in the course of their discussions.

The first occurrence of the title Son of man is found in 8.20; see comments there. It should be noted that the Marcan parallel (8.27) has “Who do men say that I am?” In addition some early Greek manuscripts of Matthew 16.13 also have “say that I am,” which indicates that there was some attempt in the early church to make explicit who was meant by this term. Moreover, when the question is repeated in verse 15, a shift is made to the first person (“I”). Nevertheless, as we point out at 8.20, it is generally advisable to retain the ambiguity of Matthew with “Son of Man” or “the One called Son of Man.” Only if retaining the third person in this verse would make the question addressed to the disciples in verse 15 seem odd, should translators say “I, who am the Son of Man.”

Further, it is important that readers not think that Jesus was asking which person was the Son of Man. It is not as if people were asking “Is Barabbas the Son of Man?” or “Is Herod the Son of Man?” or anything like that. Rather, Jesus is asking who people think the one who is called the Son of Man (namely, himself) really is.

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 .