Then: “Next” and “After that” are possible translations.

Throughout verses 5-10 Matthew uses a number of the so called “historical presents,” which is a vivid way of narrating past events. See comment on “appeared” at 2.13.

Took could give the impression that the Devil used physical force to take Jesus to the holy city. Translators should make sure they do not give this impression. They can use instead words such as “led,” “went with,” or “made him go.”

Whether translations have him or “Jesus” depends on what would be most natural in those languages.

The Greek text of this verse reads the holy city, which Good News Translation identifies as “Jerusalem, the Holy City,” assuming that some readers of Good News Bible may not know what city is intended. Most translations render merely “the Holy City,” while Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition simply has “Jerusalem.” In the Lukan parallel (4.9) only “Jerusalem” is used. For Jerusalem as the Holy City see Matthew 27.53; Revelation 11.2; 21.2, 10; 22.19. If translators render the holy city literally as in the text, it is a real possibility that many of their readers will not realize that Jerusalem is the city being referred to. For this reason they should consider either “Jerusalem” or “Jerusalem, the Holy City” (as in Good News Translation).

Set him could give the impression the Devil carried Jesus to the pinnacle and set him down there. A better translation is “had him stand there” or “caused him to stand there.”

The precise meaning of the word translated pinnacle (Good News Translation “highest point”) is in dispute. It literally means “little wing,” and the only other time it is used in the New Testament is in the Lukan parallel (4.9). The word may possibly mean “little tower” or “parapet,” and at least one scholar tentatively identifies it with “an eminence on the royal cloister on the south side of the temple enclosure, which consisted of four rows of Corinthian columns.” Most translations have pinnacle, and a few others have “parapet” (New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, New American Bible); Barclay has “the highest spire.” In the following verse Psalm 91.11-12 is quoted, and one commentator notes that in the Septuagint of Psalm 91.4 there appears the word “wings,” which sounds very similar to the word used in this account. It is therefore quite possible that the word in Psalm 91.4 has influenced the usage here, especially since this psalm was used in the Temple worship and occasionally linked with Israel’s wilderness wandering. Whatever exact part of the Temple is being referred to by pinnacle or “parapet,” it is clear that it is a very high place. Translators can say “the highest place,” “a very high place,” or “the very top.”

When translators look for a way to translate temple, they need to consider “synagogue” and “church” in its modern usage, to be sure the three terms do not overlap too much. Of course, in the New Testament, “church” was not a building at all, but referred to the community of believers. “Synagogue” is often translated as “a meeting house” or “a prayer house,” and “Temple” as “house of God.” If this term coincides with the term people use for a modern church, then in order to keep “Temple” distinct, translators sometimes say “House of God of the Jews” or “Jewish House of God.” Another way is to emphasize the Temple’s function as the place where sacrifices were offered. This is done with a phrase such as “House of sacrifice,” “House of sacrifice of the Jews,” or “House of sacrifice to God.”

The Temple was actually a complex of buildings and courtyards, so “place” is sometimes better than “house” or “building.”

Good News Translation regularly uses uppercase for the first letter of “Temple” when it refers to the Temple in Jerusalem, to keep the reference distinct from other temples. Translators should do whatever is appropriate in their own language.

It is worth noting that many translators find that an excellent way to show the relationship between “priest” and “Temple” is to translate the one as “sacrificer” and the other as “place of sacrifice.”

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 .