When it was evening (so also Mark 14.17) suggests a time after sunset, when the Passover meal was eaten (see comment at verse 17). But this also would have been the time when the main meal of each day was generally eaten. Translators commonly have “that evening” or “that night.”

He sat at table with the twelve disciples is a construction similar to that discussed in verse 17, and so may be translated as in Good News Translation: “Jesus and the twelve disciples sat down to eat.” As the RSV footnote points out, the twelve disciples is “the twelve” in some Greek manuscripts. But the full meaning in either case is the twelve disciples (or even “his twelve disciples”), and some languages will require the complete form.

Whereas Mark opens the scene with the statement “Jesus came with the twelve disciples” (14.17, Good News Bible), Matthew omits the statement and begins the scene with the eating of the meal itself (Luke 22.14 has “When the hour came, Jesus took his place at the table with the apostles,” Good News Bible).

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 .