Rather than make this verse a continuation of the sentence begun in verse 6, it may be best to introduce a new sentence here, as do New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, Barclay, and Phillips. One may want to translate “They brought the donkey and the colt to Jesus. Then they threw their cloaks over them, and Jesus got on.” In Greek the last clause of this verse is literally “and Jesus sat on them,” a reference to either the cloaks or the animals. The meaning is probably that Jesus sat on the cloaks which had been placed on the animals. As verse 5 clearly indicates, Matthew understood that Jesus rode upon both animals, though he does not indicate how this was done, whether simultaneously or on one after the other. If one must specify the object upon which Jesus sat by some form other than a pronoun, it may be best to translate “They threw their cloaks over the donkey and the colt, and Jesus sat on the cloaks.” This is a valid translation, inasmuch as the obvious intent of throwing the cloaks upon the animals was for Jesus to sit on the cloaks, and it leaves open the question of just how Jesus rode on the two donkeys, something that Matthew does not answer.

Garments is a general word for clothing, but in this verse, to say the disciples threw their clothes over the donkeys may indicate they (the disciples) were then partially or wholly naked. As indicated by Good News Translation‘s “cloaks,” the reference is probably to their outer garments. See 5.40 for suggestions on translating “cloaks.”

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 .