Lifted up their eyes translates a Hebrew idiom which means “looked up” (Good News Translation, An American Translation, New American Bible, New International Version, Barclay). A literal rendering may sound ridiculous, implying that the disciples may have dropped their eyes on the ground when they fell face downward!

No one but Jesus only: the inclusion of the modifier only in the Greek text is for the sake of emphasizing that Jesus was the only one present. Good News Translation has “no one there but Jesus.” “They didn’t see anyone but Jesus” or “the only person they saw was Jesus” will also convey the meaning.

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 .