To say that Jesus was silent means he “did not say anything” or “kept quiet” (Good News Translation).

The order of I adjure you by the living God is inverted by Good News Translation: “In the name of the living God I now put you under oath.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch prefers “I place you under oath and ask you in the name of the living God….” See 5.33 and following verses for comments on oaths and swearing. In this verse Barclay has provided a good model: “I call on you to tell us on oath, in the name of the living God.” Another possibility is “I call on you to declare (or, to tell the truth) with the living God as your witness.”

The Christ (so also Luther 1984, Moffatt, An American Translation, New Jerusalem Bible) is translated “the Messiah” by Good News Translation and several others (New English Bible, New American Bible, Barclay). See comments at 1.1, 17; 2.4. To translate the Christ, the Son of God may leave the reader with the impression that the two titles are equivalent and that one may be interchanged with the other. To shift to a double question form, as Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, would at least leave open the possibility that the two titles are not identical: “Are you the promised Savior? Are you the Son of God?”

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 .