Last night I happened to be reading in my old NASB, and noticed in Matthew 24 verse 4 reads like this: “And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.” (emphasis mine)
I began to wonder about this phrase, which I remember is so common throughout the gospels in the “older” translations. I had assumed this was just an “olde English” practice, held over from the old KJV.
I went to the “Introduction to the NASB” at the beginning of my Bible, and was pleasantly surprised to see that they addressed this phrase directly. It said this was a Hebrew idiom.
I said, “Wait a second. If that’s a Hebrew idiom, what’s it doing in one of the gospels? They were written in Greek!”
Of course, there is that speculation that maybe Matthew was written in Hebrew originally, then translated into Greek.
But even so, why a Hebrew idiom in the gospels? Anybody out there have any idea about this?
And another question to consider: Granted this is the NASB, which is trying to preserve the original wording as much as possible, but what do you suppose is the value of retaining such a phrase as “answered and said” in this day and age? The NASB actually changes this to a more normal “answered” or “said” in most cases, but they chose to retain it in Matthew 24:4.
(Just a couple questions rumbling through my mind.)
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The Sundry Times 
I don’t think there is any loss by simply having “Jesus answered.” In English “answered and said” just sounds like a duplication and does carry any meaning to the English ear.
This is one of the reasons why I stopped using the NASB and NKJV. I will check them for study, but not preach from them because it often comes out “clunky” when reading aloud. Notice that the ESV, NRSV, and HCSB which are more literal translations use “answered” or “replied” and do not have the duplication.
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There are many Hebraisms in the Greek of the New Testament. The reason they are there is that each of the New Testament authors was Jewish, except for Luke. The Jewish authors absorbed the Hebraisms of their linguistic ancestry and they used them whether they were talking in Aramaic or writing in Greek.
“answered and said” would simply be “answered” in English. That is the English translation equivalent to (same meaning as) the Hebraic idiom.
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Thanks, Wayne. I was hoping a real translator like yourself would answer my question. That makes a lot of sense.
Brent, I agree that there is no loss. I’m wondering, though, if there could be any gain by having “answered and said”. Do we gain anything by having the idiom,; or should I say, by being aware of the idiom? Do I gain anything by being aware of Greek idiom, “He can’t … can he?” for example?
Sometimes I think the serious Bible student is able to get into the writer’s mind a little better when he understands such an idiom. But I doubt that there’s any real value for the typical person in the typical small group Bible study.
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Matthew is sometimes called the Hebrew gospel. I have in a book trace pieces of the Hebrew version of Matthew. To my knowledge, there isn’t a surviving full copy.
Offshoot Jewish sects like the Ebionites were supposedly exclusively using the Hebrew version of Matthew. Don’t quote me on this though.
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Hey Bryon,
I was aware that it is thought Matthew originally wrote his gospel in Hebrew, and that was in my thoughts as I contemplated where this might have come from.
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