Most translations of this verse are fairly literal, as are Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. The same saying is used twice again by Matthew (13.9, 43); similar exhortations are found in Mark 4.9, 23; Luke 8.8; 14.35; and Revelation 2.7, 11, 17, 29; 3.6, 13, 22; 13.9. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “Whoever can hear, should listen well!” and New American Bible “Heed carefully what you hear!”

This sentence is not questioning whether or not the people have ears. No translation should give that impression. Rather its purpose is to make people pay attention to what was said. The New American Bible model cited above does that well. Other examples are “You have ears, don’t you? Then pay attention to what I am saying” or “You can hear, can’t you? Then listen to these things.”

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 .