But when the tenants saw the son may need to be translated “… saw the son coming” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Said to themselves may wrongly imply silent thought rather than oral conversation. “Said one to another” (New American Bible, New English Bible) will be better.

The heir is translated “the owner’s son” by Good News Translation. That he is the heir is brought out indirectly by Good News Bible in what follows: “… let’s kill him, and we will get his property!” Some scholars argue that the reasoning of the tenants reflects a law which was in effect in Galilee during the time of Jesus. According to this law, there were certain circumstances under which an inheritance could be considered ownerless property, and thus could be claimed by the persons who secured immediate possession of it. If this interpretation is allowed, then the tenants would have assumed that the owner of the property was dead, and that his son was now coming to take possession of the land. Therefore if they kill the son, the property would belong to them. Other scholars argue, however, that the murder of the son is a purely literary feature of the story and does not reflect this law. But regardless of which interpretation is adopted, the impact is basically the same, and the translation will not differ.

Many languages have a word they can use for heir. Occasionally translators have to say something like “the one who will inherit (everything) when the owner dies” or “the one who will have these things when the owner dies.”

The inheritance is what the heir will receive. “All the property he will get from his father” or “everything the father will leave him when he dies” are possible translations.

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 .