Why then did you go out? may be rendered “So why then did you go there?” Interestingly, one of the best ways to render this is to actually follow the textual variant, “So what did you go out to see?”

Soft raiment (Good News Translation “fancy clothes”) also has the possibility of many different translations: “fine clothes” (Phillips, New Jerusalem Bible), “dainty and delicate clothes” (Barclay), “luxuriously dressed” (New American Bible), and “in silks and satins” (New English Bible). This is best understood as a contrast between the luxurious clothes of the rich and the rough garments worn by John the Baptist.

To see … soft raiment? may need a full expression: “Did you come out to see … soft raiment?” It may be even more advisable to drop the rhetorical question: “You did not go out to see….” As in the previous verse, another way to handle the rhetorical question is to follow it with a reply, as in “(Did you go to see) a man dressed in luxurious clothes? Of course not.”

Behold: see comments on 1.20. New American Bible has “Remember,” and Jerusalem Bible “Oh no.”

Those who wear … kings’ houses may be expressed as “people who wear fine clothes like that live in kings’ houses,” or “… live with kings,” or “it is people who live in kings’ houses who wear fine clothes like that.” This does not necessarily mean kings themselves.

Kings’ houses are palaces. Translators whose languages have such a word can certainly use it.

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 .