The Greek noun phrase In the resurrection is restructured by Good News Translation as a dependent clause: “on the day when the dead rise to life.”
To which of the seven will she be wife? is a Semitic form of Greek, which is better represented in English by Good News Translation: “whose wife will she be?” It may be more effective if the order of the elements is reversed: “Whose wife will she be when God raises the dead to life?”
For they all had her is less than adequate for readers of American English, for in such a context had may imply no more than “had sexual relations with.” The meaning is clearly “had her as a wife” (Barclay), and so the basis for Good News Translation: “All of them had married her.” A more dramatic ending may be achieved for the story if the pattern of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is followed: “She had married all seven!”
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 .