Translation commentary on Matthew 10:42

One of these little ones is described by the phrase because he is a disciple (literally “in the name of a disciple”). Good News Translation combines these two phrases and renders “one of the least of these my followers.” Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition is similar to Good News Translation; New American Bible has “one of these lowly ones because he is a disciple”; New English Bible “one of these little ones, because he is a disciple of mine.” It is important in translation that little ones be understood of status rather than of age. Therefore it may be translated as “least important ones.” The phrase can then be “one of these least important of my followers because he is my follower.”

A cup of cold water reflects the show of hospitality in first-century Palestine. It may be necessary to add “to drink” or to say “a drink of cold water,” as in Good News Translation.

For comments on truly, I say to you, see 5.18.

The translation of this verse may be complicated, because Jesus is addressing his disciples (see verse 40), yet he is referring to them in the third person as one of these little ones … because he is a disciple. This results from the double orientation of Matthew’s Gospel, by which Matthew relates Jesus’ words to the actual church situation of his own day. So then Matthew will freely shift from the second person to the third person, if this better suits the needs of his congregation.

Good News Translation has rendered the negative shall not lose his reward as a positive sentence, “will certainly receive….” It may be necessary to make this passive an active, as in “God will certainly reward him” or “God will not fail to reward him.”

See verse 41 for comments on reward.

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 .

privately

The Greek in Matthew 18:15 that is translated with some rendering of “in private” in English versions is translated in most German versions with the idiom unter vier Augen (“under four eyes”) which means “privately” or “confidentially.” (See also the Hebrew equivalent in 2 Samuel 3:27.)

magi, wise men

The Greek magoi originally referred to Persian Zoroastrian “priests who were experts in astrology and in the interpretation of dreams. But the word may also be used in a derogatory sense of ‘magician’ or ‘charlatan,’ a meaning which it has in its only other New Testament occurrences outside Matthew’s nativity narrative (Acts 13:6,8). Matthew most likely has Babylonian astrologers in mind.” (Source: Newman / Stine; see also this interview .)

While most English translations either transliterate this as “magi” or translate it as “wise men,” most German versions (with the exceptions of Luther and Menge [publ. 1909]) use Sterndeuter, an old-fashioned term for astrologer. The Pfälzisch translation by Walter Sauer (publ. 2012) uses Sternegugger, also an old-fashioned term for astrologer with the verbatim meaning of “star watchers.” In Luxembourgish, it is translated as weis Astronomen or “wise astronomers.” (Source: Zetzsche)

In Kwakum it is translated as “guardians of religious rites who look up at the starts to see the things to come” or “guardians of religions rites.” (Source: Stacey Hare in this post )

In Cherokee it is translated as aniktani or “knowledgeable ones.” Aniktani (ᎠᏂᎫᏔᏂ) “appear in Cherokee oral history as a former priestly society.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 47)

See also complete verse (Matthew 2:1) and who know the laws.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: The Magi .

sound a trumpet before you

The Greek in Matthew 6:2 that is often translated in English as “sound a trumpet before you” is translated in Kayaw as “blow flutes beat drums.” “Flutes and drums are always played at Kayaw festivals and special occasions; flute and drum bands normally accompany visiting dignitaries in a procession as they arrive at a festival.” (Source: Anonymous)

In the English Good News Version (publ. 1966) it is translated non-figuratively as do not make a big show of it and the German equivalent, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (publ. 1968) uses an existing German figure of speech with nicht an die große Glocke hängen (literally: “don’t hang it on the great bell”), meaning “don’t make a big fuss about it” or “don’t broadcast it all around.” (Source: Newman / Stine) See also expose to public disgrace.

The newly-created expression that Luther used in 1522 in the German New Testament translation, ausposaunen, has become a widely used idiom with the meaning of “broadcast (new information)” (literally “to trumpet out”). (Source: Jost Zetzsche)

Translation commentary on Matthew 15:13

Every plant … will be rooted up is a literal translation of the Greek text. New Jerusalem Bible makes a slight alteration: “Any plant … will be pulled up by the roots.” The figure of a plant as a symbol for God’s true people has its background in Isaiah 60.21 and was used widely among the Jews, including the sect at Qumran. Jesus could not have made a stronger attack on the Pharisees than to accuse them of not being the true vine which God had planted. It may be necessary to shift to an active: “My Father in heaven will pull up every plant which he did not plant.” It may even be necessary to specify who these plants are: “Those Pharisees are like plants which my Father in heaven did not plant, and he will pull up every one of them.”

Notice from these examples that in some languages Every plant will be rendered “any plant,” and that rooted up can be translated “pulled up by the roots.”

Heavenly Father may have to be “God, my Father in heaven.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Matthew 2:10

In very strong terms Matthew describes the response of the men when they saw the star: they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. It is impossible to overtranslate the reaction of the men to the seeing of the star; the translation should express the greatest possible joy. Good News Translation has “how happy they were, what joy was theirs” and New English Bible “they were overjoyed.” New Jerusalem Bible reads “The sight of the star filled them with delight.”

Every language has its own way of expressing happiness or joy, and translators should use the most natural expressions they have. Some languages refer to parts of the body, as in “their hearts (or, their stomachs) were happy (or, sweet),” and so forth. Others say something like “happiness seized them” or “happiness came to them.” Another way may be “their happiness was too great to measure.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Matthew 4:3

The tempter (so most translations) is changed by Good News Translation to “the Devil” for the sake of its intended readers, since the same being is first referred to as “the Devil” in verse 1. That he comes “to tempt” is clear from verse 1, and so Good News Bible uses the same title here as in verse 1, so that the readers will not think a different person is involved. For “Devil” see Matthew 4.1. If tempter is used, then translators can say “the One who tempts people” or “the One who tries to get people to do wrong.” Also possible is “the Devil came to tempt him.”

As in other cases of came, some languages have to say “went.” In addition, the destination may be necessary, as in “went to him” or “came to where he was.”

In the Old Testament the term Son of God may be used of angels or of divine beings (Gen 6.2; Job 38.7), of the Israelite nation (Hos 11.1), or of the chosen king (Psa 2.7). The Jews rarely used Son of God as a Messianic title. But when they did, the primary reference was to “the moral relationship of love and filial obedience which should exist between a father and his son.” In the present passage the title calls attention to Jesus’ unique relation to God, as well as to his divine powers. See also 5.9 and discussion.

The Devil is probably not wondering whether or not Jesus is God’s Son. He assumes he is. The word If here is better translated “Since you are God’s Son,” “In that you are God’s Son,” or “You are God’s Son, and therefore….” However, it is also possible to understand him to be saying “If you are God’s Son, prove it by….”

Command these stones to become loaves of bread represents the temptation for Jesus “to misconstrue divine sonship as the power to do miracles.” But it also recalls the wilderness experience of Israel. It is the temptation to make bread from the stones of the wilderness in a similar way to which God miraculously provided manna and water for the Israelites during their wilderness journey. It is also closely related to the events narrated in John 6, when the people wanted to make Jesus the Messianic King, because he had miraculously fed the crowds.

Luke 4.3 has the singular “this stone.” The use of the plural stones is characteristic of Matthew’s style. For example, he frequently uses “crowds” in place of “the crowd” of Mark. Compare also the following passages with their Marcan parallels: 8.26 (“winds” for “wind”); 13.11 (“secrets” for “secret”); and 26.15 (Matthew uses the Greek plural for “silver,” while Mark uses the singular). These stones refers to the stones lying about where Jesus and the Devil were: “these stones here” or “some of these stones lying here.”

The Devil suggests Jesus command the stones to become loaves of bread. In some languages direct speech may be necessary: “Say to these stones, ‘Turn into bread (or, Become loaves of bread).’ ”

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 .

Translation commentary on Matthew 5:11

Verses 11-12 form a parallel to verse 10; they apply verse 10 specifically to the persecuted disciples and the Church. In the face of opposition and oppression, Jesus’ promise becomes a reality here and now. This explains the shift to the second person pronoun you, which also anticipates the transition to verses 13-16.

When here means “on those occasions,” “at those times when,” or “whenever.”

Revile (Good News Translation “insult”) is used of strong verbal abuse (see 27.44; 1 Peter 4.14). One commentator notes that the Jews considered verbal abuse to be extremely vicious. The rabbis considered it as evil as idolatry, fornication, and bloodshed all combined. By defamation of character a person lost his place in the community and, according to the circumstance of that day, almost the possibility of continuing his life. The insulting word itself was believed to have a power of its own. Revile can be translated “say evil about” or “say you are bad.” Many translators in West Africa use the idiom “spoil your name.”

For persecute, see comments on verse 10. Here translations can have “whenever people make you suffer” or “when people harm you.”

There is a textual problem regarding the adverb falsely. The UBS Greek text includes the word within square brackets, and the reason, according to TC-GNT, is that it may not have been an original part of the text. On the one hand, its absence may be accounted for as a scribal attempt to make the passage resemble the Lukan form (Luke 6.22). On the other hand, scribes would have been tempted to insert the word in order to limit an overgeneralization of Jesus’ teaching, and to express specifically what was believed to be implied by the very nature of Jesus’ words. But whether it is regarded as an integral part of the text or a later addition, it does explain the true meaning of the text, and this information must somehow be conveyed through translation. So then, whether on textual or translational grounds, it has been retained in a number of translations. For example, it is found in Revised Standard Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Good News Translation: (“tell all kinds of evil lies”), though omitted by New English Bible and Phillips.

To translate utter all kinds of evil against you falsely, phrases such as “say bad things about you that aren’t true” or “tell all kinds of wicked lies about you” can be used.

The phrase on my account is taken by Good News Translation to mean “because you are my followers.” Most translations follow the text literally, while Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “because you belong to me.”

A translation of on my account such as “for my sake” is also literal, but many translations have used it. “Because they are against me” is less so, although the clearest translation would be very similar to either Good News Translation or Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch: “because you follow me” or “because you are my people.”

This sentence is longer than those in verses 3-10, but it can still be made to flow smoothly: “Whenever people say evil about you and do harm to you, and tell all kinds of wicked lies about you simply because you follow me, then you are in a good position,” or “… you are fortunate,” or “… you are happy.”

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 .