One commentator calls attention to the striking parallelism between the man’s actions (“came to him and knelt before him, saying”) and Jesus’ response (stretched out his hand and touched him, saying). Reaching out and touching the man are best interpreted as gestures of healing (see 2 Kings 5.11; Mark 8.22-23). According to Jewish law, physical contact with someone who had leprosy would also have made Jesus unclean, yet all three of the Synoptic Gospels record this event (Mark 1.41; Luke 5.13). In Greek, Jesus’ action of touching the man is in focus.

In some languages it is better to say “Jesus” instead of he, so that it does not seem that the man stretched out his hand. Good News Translation is an example.

There are languages that can naturally say he stretched out his hand, but others will more likely say “stretched out and touched,” “reached out,” or simply “touched him with his hand.”

I will (Good News Translation “I do want to”) should be rendered as emphatically as possible. New English Bible has “Indeed I will,” and Jerusalem Bible “Of course I want to!” But translators should check how they handled the question in verse 2, so that the reply of Jesus here is appropriate.

Be clean may be more effectively rendered “Be cured!” (Jerusalem Bible). Of course translators will use either “Be cleaned” or “Be cured” according to what they used in verse 2. It may be difficult to use a passive imperative such as “Be cleaned” or “Be healed,” so that a phrase such as “I make you clean” or “You are now clean” may be better, or “You are healed” or “I now cure you.” But sentences such as these do not often have the same impact as the imperative, which should be used if at all possible.

And immediately is emphatic in the Greek sentence structure. Jesus’ power is beyond doubt, and the cure is immediate and complete. “At that very moment,” “Right that moment,” “At once”—phrases such as these can indicate this.

Was cleansed translates the same Greek verb rendered “you can make me clean” (verse 2) and be clean. Good News Translation shifts from the use of the ceremonial term to “was healed.” New American Bible translates “the man’s leprosy disappeared.” This can also be expressed as “the man was cured” or “the man was cured of his leprosy (or, his disease).” Certainly in very few languages will one speak of the disease being cleansed or healed. Almost always it is better to say the man was healed of the disease.

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 .