Translators in areas where streets are not common can simply say “into the towns” or, better, “out on the public roads.”

Gathered all whom they found (a fairly literal rendering of the Greek text) may also be rendered “invited everyone whom they found” (Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition). The difficulty with a literal rendering is that the reader is left with the impression that the persons who were invited were first gathered together into a large group and then went as a group to the wedding. The text seems to mean rather that the people whom they invited came individually, but comprised a large crowd when they all arrived. “Brought to the wedding feast” may be a good translation.

Both bad and good: on the assumption that the order “bad … good” is purely a linguistic feature, having no theological significance, Good News Translation places the two adjectives in an order that is more natural for English speakers: “good and bad alike.” Note also Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition: “whether he was a good or bad man.” The statement is reminiscent of 13.24-30, 36-43, 47-50.

This sentence may need to be restructured slightly to be more natural; for example, “… invited everyone they met, both good people and bad, and brought them to the wedding feast.”

The wedding hall is the room or place where the feast was to be held. If there is no direct equivalent in a language, translators may simply use a descriptive phrase: “the room for the wedding feast.”

The wedding hall was filled with guests may need to be translated either “the people came in and filled the wedding hall” or “so many people came that the wedding hall was full of guests.”

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 .