The Greek participial construction And going on from there is translated as a finite verb by Good News Translation: “He went one.” It may also be translated “As they proceeded from there.”

Two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother is restructured somewhat more naturally for English speakers by Good News Translation: “two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee.” Good News Bible also has attempted to make the verse more easily understood by breaking it up into shorter sentences, as compared with the single sentence of Revised Standard Version.

Since James is mentioned first, he may have been the older brother and John the younger; however, this is not certain. Some translators may have to say “two men, same father same mother.”

Many translations that have followed the Revised Standard Version order too closely have given some incorrect impressions to readers. For example, two other brothers means another set of men who were brothers to each other, not, as some have translated, brothers to Simon and Andrew. Some translations make it seem that John is Zebedee’s brother, with “his” or his brother referring to Zebedee instead of to James.

Another error has been with translations that make it seem Jesus saw five people, not three. This happens when it is not made clear that the two brothers are James and John. Again, as in verse 18, translators need to structure the verse according to the normal way their language would present information. Some examples are “he saw two other men named James and John. They were also brothers, and their father was Zebedee. They were in their boat with their father…,” “he saw two other men who were brothers. Their names were James and John, and their father’s name was Zebedee,” or “he saw two of the sons of a man named Zebedee. The names of these brothers were James and John.”

The Greek verb translated mending may have the specific meaning of “repair” (see Phillips, New Jerusalem Bible). But it may also have a more general meaning of “getting … ready” (Good News Translation); An American Translation has “putting their nets in order”; Barclay “servicing their nets”; New English Bible “overhauling their nets.”

It must be made clear that when Jesus called them, he “called them to follow him” or “said to them, ‘Come with me.’ ” He only called James and John, not Zebedee.

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 .