Truly, I say to you is the same emphatic formula used in 5.26; it is somewhat stronger than “I tell you” of verse 29.

This very night is not really very natural English, and Good News Translation‘s “tonight” does not have the same emphasis. One good way to express this is “before this night is over.”

Before the cock crows differs from Mark, who has “before the cock crows twice” (14.30). In that part of the world roosters generally crowed about midnight and then again about three o’clock in the morning. So the Romans gave the designation “rooster crow” to the period of time in between these two crowings of the roosters. Matthew may have in mind the main crowing of the rooster (that is, the second one), but he does not in any way hint in that direction. Living Bible attempts to overcome the contradiction between the accounts of Matthew and Mark by translating Matthew’s account as “before the cock crows at dawn.” But this is definitely not what Matthew says, and it contradicts the clear meaning of this very night, before the cock crows.

Even though the text has the cock, no particular fowl is being spoken of. In some languages a more natural expression is “before a rooster crows,” “before there is a rooster-crow,” or “before you hear a rooster crow.” (Note that cock and “rooster” are two different words for male chickens used in different dialects of English.)

Deny is the same verb used in 16.24. Elsewhere in the Gospel the verb is found only in verses 35 and 75 of this chapter. A number of English translations, following Moffatt, use the verb “disown” (New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Phillips, An American Translation, Barclay, New International Version). Deny me is translated “say … that you do not know me” by Good News Translation. Another option is “say that you are not my follower.”

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 .