This verse continues the sequence of events from verse 51. If translators have made God the agent of the earth shaking and rocks splitting, then for the tombs also were opened they may have either “and God also opened the tombs” or “and the tombs opened.”

Bodies is to be understood of the total person, viewed as a “body,” a meaning the noun “body” frequently has in Jewish thought. The translation must not suggest that a group of unanimated bodies came floating up out of the ground! Many bodies of the saints are then “the saints.”

Saints is literally “holy ones,” and the term may refer either to God’s people in general (Good News Translation “many of God’s people”) or else to a special category of devout Israelites who had died before Jesus’ day. Both Barclay and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch have the equivalent of Good News Bible, while several other translations specifically employ the other interpretation: “God’s saints” (New English Bible), “holy men” (Jerusalem Bible), and “holy people” (New International Version).

Fallen asleep may be used figuratively of “the sleep of death,” which is the basis for Good News Translation‘s “died.” In 28.13 the verb is used in its literal sense, though it is also used figuratively in other New Testament passages (for example, Acts 7.60; 1 Cor 7.39; 1 Thes 4.13, 14, 15).

Were raised also translates a Greek passive verb, which further suggests the activity of God himself. The full meaning is “were raised to life” (Good News Translation) or “God raised to life many of his chosen people who had died and were in their graves.”

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 .