You have heard that it was said to the men of old is restructured by Good News Translation as “You have heard that people were told in the past.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “You know that it has been said to our ancestors” (Jerusalem Bible “You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors”; New American Bible “You have heard the commandment imposed on your forefathers”). The impersonal passive form of it was said can possibly mean “people of the past said”; however, in the New Testament such a passive always introduces a divine utterance or a scriptural quotation. One may therefore translate “You know that God said….” Many translations will therefore use a sentence such as “You know God said to your ancestors” or “People have told you what God said to your fathers of long ago.”

The men of old refers primarily to the “Sinai generation.” However, all subsequent generations are also included. The same construction occurs in verse 33. The phrase is usually translated as “your ancestors” or “your fathers of long ago.” Note that it refers to all those people, not just to the males.

You shall not kill comes from Exodus 20.13, while whoever kills shall be liable to judgment echoes Deuteronomy 17.8. Good News Translation correctly translates “murder” as the meaning of kill. Both the Hebrew and the Greek verbs mean murder or assassination, not just any form of taking life.

The distinction between “murder” and “kill” has often proved a problem for translators. “Murder” specifically means killing that is not legal or sanctioned by the community, nor is it accidental. Thus killing in battle or sanctioned executions are not included in the commandment You shall not kill. Usually a language will have a way of referring to murder, either with a specific word or with a phrase such as “killing from anger” or “killing of one’s own volition.” Such expressions should also exclude killing accidentally.

The shall, of course, is not a simple future reference but an imperative: “you must not” or “I forbid you.” You is in the singular in the text.

Whoever means “anyone who,” “any person who,” or “that person who.”

Liable to judgment (Good News Translation “brought to trial”) is translated “answer for it before the court” by New Jerusalem Bible and “stand his trial” by Phillips. The verb may, however, mean “guilty,” as it does in 26.66. One commentator, accepting the meaning “guilty” (that is, “condemned by the properly constituted authority”), is convinced that it is here equivalent to “be put to death.” In this case the properly constituted authority would be the twenty-three members of the local Sanhedrin. See comments at verse 22 for coordinating the translation of this term with its use there.

Translators who follow the first interpretation, the one in Good News Translation, will use the normal expression in their language for being brought to trial: “accused before the judge,” “will be taken to court to be tried (or, judged),” and so forth.

Other translations will follow the second interpretation, whereby judgment implies “guilt.” They might say “found guilty by the judge” or “the judge will declare him guilty.” A common West African expression is “the judge will cut the case against him.”

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 .