He strictly charged: in the Greek text Jesus is not specifically given as the subject of the verb strictly charged, but it may be helpful to mark him as such, since he was last mentioned by name in verse 17.

Strictly charged is translated “ordered” by Good News Translation and “gave … strict orders … to” by New English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible. This is the only occurrence of this verb in Matthew, though it occurs elsewhere in the New Testament in Mark 5.43; 7.36; 8.15; 9.9; Acts 15.24; Hebrews 12.20.

As indicated in verse 16, the Christ (Good News Translation “the Messiah”) is rendered “the Promised Savior” by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. Moreover, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch shifts to direct discourse: “Then Jesus urged his disciples: ‘Tell no one that I am the Promised Savior.’ ”

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 .