The tempter (so most translations) is changed by Good News Translation to “the Devil” for the sake of its intended readers, since the same being is first referred to as “the Devil” in verse 1. That he comes “to tempt” is clear from verse 1, and so Good News Bible uses the same title here as in verse 1, so that the readers will not think a different person is involved. For “Devil” see Matthew 4.1. If tempter is used, then translators can say “the One who tempts people” or “the One who tries to get people to do wrong.” Also possible is “the Devil came to tempt him.”

As in other cases of came, some languages have to say “went.” In addition, the destination may be necessary, as in “went to him” or “came to where he was.”

In the Old Testament the term Son of God may be used of angels or of divine beings (Gen 6.2; Job 38.7), of the Israelite nation (Hos 11.1), or of the chosen king (Psa 2.7). The Jews rarely used Son of God as a Messianic title. But when they did, the primary reference was to “the moral relationship of love and filial obedience which should exist between a father and his son.” In the present passage the title calls attention to Jesus’ unique relation to God, as well as to his divine powers. See also 5.9 and discussion.

The Devil is probably not wondering whether or not Jesus is God’s Son. He assumes he is. The word If here is better translated “Since you are God’s Son,” “In that you are God’s Son,” or “You are God’s Son, and therefore….” However, it is also possible to understand him to be saying “If you are God’s Son, prove it by….”

Command these stones to become loaves of bread represents the temptation for Jesus “to misconstrue divine sonship as the power to do miracles.” But it also recalls the wilderness experience of Israel. It is the temptation to make bread from the stones of the wilderness in a similar way to which God miraculously provided manna and water for the Israelites during their wilderness journey. It is also closely related to the events narrated in John 6, when the people wanted to make Jesus the Messianic King, because he had miraculously fed the crowds.

Luke 4.3 has the singular “this stone.” The use of the plural stones is characteristic of Matthew’s style. For example, he frequently uses “crowds” in place of “the crowd” of Mark. Compare also the following passages with their Marcan parallels: 8.26 (“winds” for “wind”); 13.11 (“secrets” for “secret”); and 26.15 (Matthew uses the Greek plural for “silver,” while Mark uses the singular). These stones refers to the stones lying about where Jesus and the Devil were: “these stones here” or “some of these stones lying here.”

The Devil suggests Jesus command the stones to become loaves of bread. In some languages direct speech may be necessary: “Say to these stones, ‘Turn into bread (or, Become loaves of bread).’ ”

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 .