Lord (so also New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible) is translated “Sir” by Good News Translation, Moffatt, New English Bible, and Barclay. See comment at 8.2.

Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version both have have mercy on. Translators can use this or “take pity on,” or any expression that will be natural in the receptor language.

As we discussed in 4.24, the word rendered epileptic means literally “moonstruck.” This is the origin of the English word “lunatic,” a word for someone who is mentally deranged, and it is for this reason some translations have “lunatic” (Phillips, Jerusalem Bible). New American Bible has “demented.” Epileptic is the preference of Good News Translation, New English Bible, New International Version and others. Although epileptic may be more accurate as far as modern medical terminology is concerned, it does not convey the emotional impact as well as “lunatic.” It may be best to translate “He sometimes goes out of his mind.”

Suffers terribly (so also Phillips; Moffatt “suffers cruelly”; New International Version “suffering greatly”) represents the wording of some Greek manuscripts. Other manuscripts have “is in a terrible condition.” The UBS Greek New Testament prefers the first of these two choices, though it indicates there is a “considerable degree of doubt” regarding which may be the superior wording. Actually, the only significant difference in meaning is the emphasis: the first wording emphasizes the actual pain involved, while the second choice stresses more the intensity of the illness. But in translation it is quite possible that the restructuring will be essentially the same. For example, it is difficult to determine the textual base of New American Bible (“in a serious condition”), Good News Translation: (“has such terrible fits”), and New English Bible (“has bad fits”), though it is assumed that Good News Translation follows the UBS Greek text.

Often he falls into the fire, and often into the water describes some of the effects of the boy’s illness. In translation it may be necessary to repeat the subject and verb in the second clause: “… and often he falls into the water.” It is also possible to place the two clauses together, as in Good News Translation: “he often falls in the fire or into water.”

Good News Translation has linked suffers terribly and falls (“has such terrible fits that he often falls…”). In fact, this is done quite often by translators. Some possibilities include “For he is an epileptic, and when he falls, often it is into a fire or into water, so that he suffers greatly” and “For he is an epileptic, and he suffers so much when he falls into the water or a fire (because of a fit).”

It is usually not necessary to specify what fire or water the boy falls into, but in some languages translators have used “a river or lake” for water.

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 .