This verse begins with And in Greek, a word that indicates that the narrative is continuing, but it will probably not be right to make it seem that the blind and the lame came to Jesus immediately after he chastised the merchants and moneychangers. Most translations begin a new paragraph here.

The healing of the blind and the lame is mentioned only by Matthew, and it is of significance in his account. This is, in fact, the only mention in the first three Gospels of a healing in Jerusalem, which doubly underlines its significance. Earlier Matthew also linked the healing of the blind and the lame to each other (15.30-31), but here the combination takes on a deeper meaning in light of 2 Samuel 5.8, where it is stated “The blind and the crippled cannot enter the LORD’s house” (Good News Translation). The healing therefore reveals glimmers of the Messianic Age (see Isa 35.5-6) and affirms that the blind and the crippled, together with “the children” (verse 15), are now legitimately in God’s Temple, whereas the chief priests and the teachers of the Law (verse 15) have disqualified themselves by their rejection of Jesus.

The use of “the” in the blind and the lame can make it seem as if all blind people and all crippled people went to Jesus to be healed. Translators may have to say “the blind and crippled people from there” or “many blind and crippled people.”

Came may more naturally be “went” in many languages.

Lame was discussed at 15.30.

The text does not say explicitly the blind and lame came to Jesus to be healed, but that seems to be understood, and some translations have said “came (or, went) to Jesus so he would heal them.” However, in most languages this will not be necessary, since the context makes it so clear.

It may be argued that in the temple is redundant and should be left implicit in translation, since the Temple has already been referred to twice in this account and will be mentioned again in the following verse. However, the real focus of the verse is to indicate that the Temple is the place where the healing occurred, thus qualifying the blind and the crippled to be there. Sometimes it is helpful to say “where he was in the Temple.”

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 .