A certain one may imply that Jesus actually told the disciples the person’s name, or that the person was known to the disciples, but that for some reason Matthew decided not to mention the name in his Gospel. Accordingly, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders “Go to a man in the city—he told them the man’s name—and tell him….” The use of “so-and-so” (Moffatt, Jerusalem Bible, Barclay) implies to the English reader that the name was known, as does “Go to this man in the city and tell him” (New American Bible).

The Teacher may more appropriately be rendered “Our Teacher” as in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, because in a context of this sort the definite article The may carry this meaning. For Teacher as a title of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, see comment at 8.19.

Time (so also Moffatt, An American Translation, Luther 1984, Zürcher Bibel) is the traditional rendering of the Greek noun found here. A few modern English translations prefer “appointed time” (New English Bible, New American Bible, New International Version), while Barclay has “hour of crisis” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “hour”). The noun is used several other times in the Gospel (8.29; 11.25; 12.1; 13.30; 14.1; 16.3; 21.34, 41; 24.45), but the general consensus of scholarship is that here it has the specialized meaning of a moment appointed by God. One possible translation, therefore, is “the time God has set for me.” To state specifically that this refers to his death is probably not necessary.

Since time derives from the same stem as “opportunity” of verse 16, it may well be that Matthew intends for his readers to see a contrast between this saying of Jesus and the remark made in verse 16.

At hand translates an adjective made from the same stem as the verb discussed at 3.2 (see comments there). The meaning may be either “has come” or “is near.”

I will keep … with my disciples is a Semitic Greek construction which is equivalent to “I and my disciples will keep” (Good News Translation “my disciples and I will celebrate”).

At your house is literally “with you,” but as may be gathered from the reading of most translations, the meaning is as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have expressed it.

All languages handle direct and indirect discourse differently, and this verse can be something of a problem. Jesus tells the disciples what they should tell the certain person what he (Jesus) says to him (the person). The I and my refer to Jesus. Translators should use direct or indirect discourse as required by the receptor language. For some, both are used, as in “Jesus told his disciples to go into the city to a certain person and tell him that the Teacher says this: ‘My time has arrived. I and my disciples will celebrate the Passover at your house.’ ”

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 .