The description of John in verse 4 is not part of the quotation from Isaiah. Readers in many languages can tell this by the use of the quotation marks. However, in many societies where people are not very accustomed to reading, it is still normal to have some word or phrase to indicate the end of the quotation; for example, “That is what he said.” In still others a transition word such as Now in Revised Standard Version is used to show that the quotation is finished and something new has started. The important thing is that the transition be smooth and natural in the translation.

According to Malachi 4.5 the return of Elijah is to precede the coming of the Messiah. John is identified as Elijah in Matthew 17.10-13, but in the present passage the similarity between John and Elijah exists only in the reference to John’s clothes: a garment of camel’s hair, and a leather girdle around his waist (see 2 Kgs 1.8).

John wore habitually the clothes described: “John used to wear,” “was wearing,” or “wore all the time.”

In many areas camels are unknown, and likewise the rough cloth made from camel’s hair. Translators in such areas can say “John’s clothing was made from the hair of a domestic animal (or, hair of an animal called camel),” or possibly “John’s clothing was made of a rough cloth made from the hair of an animal called camel.”

For garment sometimes a general word like “clothing” or “clothes” is available, but in other languages a specific term has to be named. In these cases translators should use a word for a tunic, or shirt, or a wrap that a man might commonly wear.

The leather girdle can be translated as in Good News Translation, “leather belt,” but also as “belt of dried animal skin” or “a strip of dried animal skin around his waist to hold his clothing.”

Food translates a noun which literally means “nourishment”; but here and elsewhere in Matthew the meaning is “food” (see 6.25; 10.10; 24.45). Just as the clothing referred to was his usual clothing, by food is meant his customary or habitual nourishment. “He used to eat” or “His usual food was” are ways to handle this.

The mention of locusts and wild honey does not belong to a part of the description of Elijah. Locusts were recognized as clean food by the Jews and are still eaten by Arabs of the Near or Middle East. There is no basis for the identification of this word as “carob,” or “cakes,” or “milk.”

It should be noticed that Matthew’s rearrangement of the Marcan order by placing the information of Mark 1.6 (Matt 3.4) before that of Mark 1.5 (Matt 3.5-6) achieves a much smoother transition. Matthew 3.4-6 and Mark 1.5-6 are without parallel in the Lukan account.

Wild honey is honey found in natural beehives, out in the fields or wilderness perhaps, as distinguished from honey from beehives kept by people. However, this distinction is simply unknown in areas where people do not keep bees, and translators can then say either “honey” or “honey found in the wilderness (or, in the forest).”

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 .