Denied it may need to be expanded to read “denied that he was with Jesus of Nazareth.” Only Matthew notes that Peter used an oath to strengthen his denial. With an oath, “I do not know the man” may be restructured as in Good News Translation: “I swear that I don’t know that man!” or as “I declare before God that I don’t know the man.” But for further ideas on oath, see the discussion at 5.33.

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 .