As we have mentioned before, And will be omitted in some languages, but in others it will be translated by something such as “And so,” “So,” or “Therefore.”

In the Greek text he refers to Joseph. To avoid confusion because of the several persons mentioned in the narrative (the angel, Joseph, Herod, the child), Good News Translation makes the pronominal reference explicit.

Rose: TEV has “got up.” See also comment in verse 13.

His mother refers to Mary, the mother of Jesus, not to Joseph’s mother. This information is, of course, clear to the good reader, but the translation should leave no possibility of ambiguity. Some languages will have to say “the child and the mother” or “the child and the child’s mother.”

By night means “during the night” or “while it was still night.” Note that as in Good News Translation, “left during the night” is probably better than “took by night.”

Departed: they set out on the journey that same night. The translation should not intimate that they arrived there in the same night.

Took … departed is similar to “take … flee” in verse 13. It can be expressed by “He went with the child and his mother and they left,” or simply “He left with the child and his mother.”

There are languages where departed to Egypt will have to be expressed by two verbs, as in “They left during the night to go toward Egypt” or “They left during the night. They went toward Egypt.”

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 .