There is a textual problem regarding the first word of this verse, whether it should be the Greek word for For (meaning “because” or “but”) or “How!” The UBS Greek New Testament highly favors the second alternative, which represents a Semitic exclamatory form. The restructuring of the translations make it difficult to determine precisely what textual tradition is followed. Only New American Bible clearly reflects the exclamatory form: “But how narrow is the gate … how rough the road … how few there are!”

Translators who accept the interpretation of For as “How!” may have something similar to New American Bible cited above, or a phrase such as “But that gate that leads to life, how narrow it is (or, it is really a narrow one).”

Narrow does not usually pose difficulties, but some translators have rendered it as “hard (or, small) to pass through.” It should be possible to use the same expression as in verse 13.

Way can be “road” or “path,” as in verse 13.

The Greek word rendered hard represents a participial form (literally “pressed together”), which carries the meaning “unspacious” or “crowded.” New American Bible renders “rough,” and Barclay translates “beset with troubles.” Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition translates by an adjective which may mean “strenuous” or even “back-breaking.”

When speaking of the way as being hard, in addition to the possible translations cited above, other things that can be said include “the way is difficult to travel on” and “it is full of difficulties (for people traveling on it).” In any case, it will be good if the expression will contrast with easy in verse 13.

As in verse 13, it may be necessary to restructure the verse slightly; for example, “the gate that leads to life is really narrow, and the road there is full of difficulties.”

Life can refer to “real life” or “true life.” From the context it seems clear that it is also acceptable to say “eternal life.”

In the sentence those who find it are few, there is some question as to what it refers to, whether it is the gate, the way, or life. Probably the best interpretation is that it refers to the way, especially since it is parallel to it in verse 13. Thus translators can say “there are only a few people who find that way,” or possibly “… that way to life.”

When translating these two verses, 13 and 14, translators should treat them as a single paragraph. It may not be natural in some languages to follow the same structure as the text, which starts with the narrow gate, switches to the wide one, and then returns to the narrow one. Instead, it may be more natural to do something like this:

• The gate you go through on the way to eternal destruction is wide, and the road you take there is easy to travel on. There are many people who take that way. But the gate that leads to life is really narrow, and the way there is full of difficulties. Few people find that way. But you should go through that gate to find life.

It should be noted, however, that the focus is on this narrow gate.

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 .