Then (so also Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version) translates a Greek particle indicating an indefinite moment of time. A number of translations render “Afterwards” (New English Bible, Barclay, Phillips); An American Translation translates “Afterward.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders “Later.”

Came to may be “approached” or “went up to.”

The adverb privately may be taken with either the verb came to (a participle in Greek) or the verb said. The end result is practically the same. Barclay renders privately by “when they were alone.”

Cast … out is the same verb used in 7.22. Many languages will have an indigenous term for the casting out of demons.

It clearly is “the demon” (Good News Translation). Other translations, such as Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“the evil spirit”), also make the pronominal reference explicit.

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 .