Jesus spends forty days in the wilderness, as Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai, where he received the Law.

And is a transition leading on from verse 1. Translators might use “After” or “Then,” or perhaps no transition will be needed at all.

Jesus fasted. “To fast” means to voluntarily go without food. It is sometimes done as a religious duty. The custom is known in many parts of the world and poses no translation problem, but where it is not known, the voluntary aspect of it should be included in the translation so that it does not appear Jesus did not eat simply because there was no food. Barclay has that “he had deliberately gone without food.” “He refrained from eating” would be another possibility.

In some languages it is more natural to say simply “forty days” than forty days and forty nights. Other languages would say “forty full days” or “forty days and nights.” The impression must not be given that he fasted only in the daytime (and ate at night).

Afterward can be “after that time,” “at the end of the forty days and nights,” or “after he had fasted for forty days and nights, he became hungry.”

He was hungry translates a Greek aorist tense which may well be translated “He got hungry” or “and so he was hungry.” Barclay has “he was attacked by pangs of hunger.”

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 .