Hunger and thirst for righteousness: hungering and thirsting are figures for longing after God, both in the Old Testament (Isa 55.1; Psa 42.2; Baruch 2.18) and in the New Testament (John 4.13; 7.37; Rev 21.6; 22.17). The meaning of the figure is to seek something with all one’s heart, to desire it above all else. Most translations maintain the original figure of speech, but those that do away with it include Good News Translation: (“whose greatest desire is to do what God requires”) and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“who burn as they wait for God’s will to be done”).
The parallel passage in Luke reads “Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied” (6.21). But Matthew moves from a literal, physical hunger to that of hungering after righteousness, a term which is not easily defined (see comments at 3.15). Some translations reflect the meaning as “the desire to do right” (An American Translation “uprightness”; Moffatt “goodness”; Phillips “true goodness”; and New American Bible “holiness”). Good News Translation renders “what God requires,” while Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch prefers “that God’s will may be done.”
In many cases translators have felt that the metaphor hunger and thirst will be clearly understood by their readers. Other translators have felt that a simile is better, as in “those who desire righteousness as if they were hungering and thirsting” or “who long for God’s will to be done like people who are hungry and thirsty long for food and drink.” This can make for a rather long and awkward construction, so many translators do find it better to drop the image altogether, as Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch have done. Other examples of this are “who want more than anything else to do God’s will” or “who seek with all their heart to do God’s will.”
As we pointed out, another acceptable translation of righteousness here is “to see God’s will done.” Thus translators can say in this verse “whose greatest desire is for people to do what God tells them to do” or “whose greatest desire is that people do what God wants.”
Translators will probably not translate satisfied with a word that only means to be full from eating enough, especially if they have dropped the image of hungering and thirsting. The idea of getting what one desires, however, can be used: “God will give them what they desire” or “God will satisfy them completely.”
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 .