In Greek the subject of besought is an unmarked “they” (masculine plural), which may refer either to the sick people or to the people who brought the sick people to Jesus. New English Bible shifts to a passive in order to avoid the difficulty: “and he was begged to allow them….” Both Good News Translation and Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition specify that “they” are those who brought the sick people to Jesus. It is possible to translate “Then the people who brought the sick people to Jesus begged him to let their sick….” Translators who choose the other interpretation will have something like “Then the sick people begged Jesus to let them touch….”
That they might only touch reflects the ancient belief that a person might be healed through physical contact with someone of unusual powers. As a rule, the person with the power to heal would have reached out to touch those who were sick, but these people have such great faith in Jesus that they believe his healing power overflows into the fringe of his garment. There is no hint in the text that Jesus encouraged this belief, though what they did was evidently interpreted as a genuine act of faith, because Matthew states as many as touched it were made well.
Fringe refers specifically to the part of the long garment that reached down to the feet. In 23.5 the word is used in the specific sense of “tassel,” referring to the tassels each Israelite man was obligated to wear on the four corners of his outer garment. See Numbers 15.38-39 and Deuteronomy 22.12. According to 9.20, a woman with a flow of blood was made well when she touched the fringe of Jesus’ garment. The fringe can be “the bottom” or “the foot,” or, as in Good News Translation, “the edge.”
The phrase as many as means “whoever,” “every person who,” or “all who” (Good News Translation).
Were made well is rendered “were completely cured” by Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, and Barclay. Moffatt translates “got perfectly well,” and New American Bible “were fully restored to health.” Although Matthew abbreviates Mark’s account, he heightens the miraculous element by introducing “all” in verse 35 and by introducing the intensive form of the verb where Mark uses the ordinary form. Were made well can also be rendered “were healed,” “were cured,” or by phrases such as “their illnesses (or, diseases) left them” and “were cured (of their illness).” It may also be translated as an active verb: “And Jesus’ power made everyone well who touched the edge of his garment.”
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 .