Well done, good and faithful servant may need to be stated more fully: “You have done the right thing. You are a good and faithful servant.” Barclay translates the second sentence “You have shown yourself to be a good and trustworthy servant.” Faithful is also used in 24.45, thus making another link between the first and third in this series of three parables.

Over a little is transformed into a verb construction by Good News Translation: “in managing small amounts.” New English Bible (“You have proved trustworthy in a small way”) would imply for American readers that the man had not been very trustworthy. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch retains a noun phrase but makes the meaning clear: “You have proved yourself trustworthy in small matters.”

I will set you over much may be too elliptical. Better may be “I will give you a much larger responsibility” or “I will put you in charge of (managing) large amounts.” It is good, however, if the translations of little and much can be parallel, as in “small matters … large matters” or “small amounts … large amounts.”

“Come on in and share my happiness!” represents an attempt on the part of Good News Translation to make sense out of the literal enter into the joy of your master. A number of scholars believe that the noun joy here is used with the meaning “feast” or “banquet.” The footnote in New Jerusalem Bible (“The happiness of the heavenly banquet”) goes beyond the context of the parable itself. But Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes excellent sense within the setting of the parable: “Come to my banquet and celebrate with me!” In this case, enter seems to indicate physically coming in (to the house where the banquet was). But enter can equally well be an invitation to share in the happiness, as in “I am really happy about this, and I want you to be happy with me.”

Note from these examples that the third person, of your master, is often rendered by first person “me” or “my.”

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 .