And if this comes to the governor’s ears (Good News Translation “And if the Governor should hear of this”) translates a passive construction in Greek, literally “And if this should be heard by the governor.” This refers to the news about the disciples having come and stolen the body of Jesus while the guards slept. It does not refer to the money being paid to the guards. Translators may have “this story.” It is recalled that throughout the trial scene Matthew frequently referred to Pilate by his official title, the governor (27.2, 11, 14, 15, 21, 27); Mark, for whatever reason, avoids the use of the title.

In the construction we will satisfy him, the pronoun we is emphatic. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “we will speak with him,” and New American Bible “we will straighten it out with him”; Good News Translation is more specific yet with “we will convince him that you are innocent.” It may be that the verb satisfy has the implied meaning “with money,” in which case the full meaning is “we will pay him off” or “we will pay him what is necessary.” But no translations seem to go in this direction.

Out of trouble translates a noun which is used in the New Testament elsewhere only in 1 Corinthians 7.32. New International Version translates precisely as Revised Standard Version, while New Jerusalem Bible is similar with “see that you do not get into trouble.” The meaning of Good News Translation is the same, though the wording is somewhat different: “you will have nothing to worry about.”

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 .