Looked at (the same verb used in 6.26, but nowhere else in the Gospel) is the choice of most English translations, though Good News Translation prefers “looked straight at.” The verb is actually an intensive form of the verb which means “look (at),” and it is difficult to know how much impact the intensified form is intended to carry. If a stronger force is intended than the unintensified form will represent, then 6.26 may be translated “take a close look at” or “consider carefully,” and the present text translated in a way similar to Good News Translation.

With men … are possible is restructured considerably in Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition: “Men cannot do it, but God can do anything.” It is obvious that men is used here of “people” in general.

It is also clear that in this context this means being saved. The translation can therefore be “People cannot achieve salvation, but God can do anything,” or possibly “It is impossible for people to save themselves, but God is able to do all 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 .