Both the question form and the negative relative clause (that I did not …) within another negative relative clause (that you fail …) may cause some difficulty for some readers. But these potential problems can be resolved; for example, “By now you should have realized that I was not talking to you about bread.” In some West African languages the most natural way to render this will be “I wasn’t talking about bread. Can’t you see that?”

Beware of translates the same verb used in verse 6; it was first used in 6.1 (see comments there).

In translation it may be beneficial for the reader if a clear tie is made between the two statements of this verse; for example, “Don’t you understand that when I told you to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees I wasn’t talking about bread?” or “I told you to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. I wasn’t talking about bread. Can’t you understand that?”

The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees may wrongly be interpreted to mean either “the yeast which the Pharisees and Sadducees own” or “… which the Pharisees and Sadducees are selling (or, distributing).” However, the difficulty is not too severe, since an explanation is given in the next verse. Nevertheless, it is possible to be more specific, even here: “… from the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees, which is like yeast (that spreads throughout a lump of dough).”

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 .