Immediately translates the adverb rendered “As soon as” by Good News Translation. This is a favorite transitional marker in the Gospel of Mark where it is used forty-one times; Matthew uses it much less frequently (13.20, 21; 14.27; 21.2, 3; 26.74).
From the Revised Standard Version text one can see that there are two transitions, the one translated And when, and the other translated immediately. These can be handled in several ways. Some translations will find a solution modeled on Good News Translation very helpful: “As soon as John baptized Jesus…” or “Right after being baptized, Jesus….” In other languages it will not be possible to say “As soon as Jesus was baptized” without having first said that he was baptized. Translations in these languages will use something like “Jesus was baptized and straight away (or, afterward) came up out of the water.” There are also translations that will have something very near Revised Standard Version: “After Jesus was baptized, he immediately came out of the water.”
To describe Jesus’ actions in leaving the water, Matthew uses a different preposition than does Mark (1.10); he employs one that would normally mean from (New Jerusalem Bible “up from”), whereas the preposition which Mark uses normally means “out of.” In light of the fact of the many differing church traditions, it seems best to translate in such a way as not necessarily to imply immersion, but to allow for it. Matthew is certainly not as much interested in the form as he is in the meaning which he indicates quite clearly. Therefore most translations will say simply something like “came out of the water.”
And behold is the same form rendered “and lo” in verse 17; see comment at 1.20.
The heavens were opened and he saw, except for the shift from “I saw,” repeats almost exactly the words of Ezekiel 1.1; while in place of the Spirit of God descending, Ezekiel 2.2 has “and a spirit came on me.” In this context the pronoun he most likely refers to Jesus, the person just mentioned, and so translators should retain the information that it was Jesus who saw the heavens opened. Whether John saw it is not mentioned in this Gospel.
In place of the verb “to open,” Mark uses the more graphic “to split” (1.10); however, translations generally have something like “to open” for both verbs. The use of the passive were opened may imply divine agency (“God opened”), while “to him” (see below) may mean either that Jesus alone witnessed the event or else that it was for his benefit alone.
In very many languages the plural form heavens makes little sense, and translators use the singular, “heaven” (Good News Translation).
The strangeness in many languages of speaking of heaven being “open” is compounded by the passive were opened, so that many translators find it better to say “God opened heaven.”
As the RSV footnote indicates, the phrase “to him” (Good News Translation) is doubtful in the text. TC-GNT recognizes the strength of the manuscript evidence in favor of its inclusion, but also realizes that copyists may have omitted the phrase as unnecessary. Therefore the UBS Greek text encloses the words (one word in Greek) within square brackets to indicate that the presence of these words in the text is disputed. The phrase “to him,” if translated, will be expressed as “for him to see” or simply “for him,” depending on which interpretation is chosen.
The Spirit of God is mentioned elsewhere in Matthew’s Gospel only in 12.28. For comments on the translations of the Spirit, see 1.18.
One commentator, on the basis of Luke’s interpretation (Luke 3.22: “in bodily form like a dove”), states that the phrase like a dove “must mean like a dove in appearance.” However, on the basis of the Greek text, it is more appropriate to connect the phrase like a dove with the participle descending. In this case the meaning is “descending in the way that a dove descends.” Regardless of the Lukan interpretation, we are here translating the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew’s concern is different from that of Luke, and it is extremely doubtful if anyone would ever have thought to interpret his words in this manner, had it not been for the Lukan parallel. The phrase can be translated “Coming down in the way a dove does” or “Coming down on him the way a dove flies down.”
Alighting can be “landed on him,” “sat on him,” or “rested on him.” Thus the sentence can be “He saw God’s Spirit coming down and landing on him in a manner a dove would.”
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 .