And indicates a continuation of the narrative. Some languages do not need any marker like this, but others will say “So,” “Therefore,” or “Then.”
Assembling can be “He called together” (Good News Translation), or “he held a meeting of,” or “he asked them to come meet with him.”
The word list of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch defines chief priests as “the executive committee within the Jewish Council, which consisted of the High Priest, the officer in charge of the temple guard (Acts 4.1), several leading priests of high rank, and three influential laymen.” It is probable also that they were “members of the families from which the High Priests were at that time appointed.”
Many translators use a term such as “sacrificers” for priests and “chief (or, big) sacrificers” for chief priests. This certainly emphasizes the main role of the priests and works especially well if translators use “house of sacrifice” to translate “temple.” Other translators construct a short phrase such as “one who goes before God (for the people)” or “mediator between God and the people” for translating “priest,” and for “chief priest” add “chief” or “big,” or whatever word means “leader.”
The scribes were experts in Jewish religious law; Good News Translation uses the less technical term “teachers of the Law,” in which “Law” means “the Jewish religious Law.” Certainly translators should avoid translating scribes simply as “writers,” since this would not indicate the true role the scribes played for the Jewish people at that time, which was to be teachers and experts in the Law. Some translators cannot say “of the Law” without specifying which law, as in “of the Law of Moses” or “of the Jewish Law.” In Matthew the people always refers to the Jews, and so in the present context the equivalent would be “the Jewish people” (New English Bible). Phillips translates the entire phrase as “all the Jewish chief priests and scribes,” while Barclay follows Good News Translation in leaving of the people implicit. If translators have already modified priests or scribes with “of the Jews” as in “Jewish sacrificers” or “teachers of the Jewish Law,” then they can either leave of the people implicit, as in Good News Translation, or say “of those people.”
The word inquired (Good News Translation “asked”) occurs only here in Matthew’s Gospel. It is used by John in 4.52; all of its other occurrences are found in the Lukan writings (Luke 15.26; 18.36; Acts 4.7; 10.18, 29; 21.33; 23.19, 20, 34).
For the Christ (Good News Translation “the Messiah”) see the discussion at 1.17 and 1.1. In the present context the term refers back to the king of the Jews of verse 2. But readers who are not familiar with the meaning of this term may not see the connection, so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “the Promised King” (Indonesian common language version [INCL] “the Promised Savior King”).
Some languages must use direct speech, as in “Where will the one be born who is the Messiah?” or “When the Messiah comes, where will he be born?”
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 .