They do all their deeds is expressed as “They do everything” by Good News Translation. It can also be “Everything they do is done” or “All of their acts are done.”
To be seen by men is rendered by Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition as “it is only to be seen by people.” Good News Translation removes the passive in favor of an active construction: “so that people will see them.”
Phylacteries (so most translations, and see illustration|fig:Phylactery_Image.jpg) represents a technical religious term which will not be understood by most readers. Good News Translation handles the specialized term with the explanatory phrase “straps with scripture verses on them which they wear on their foreheads and arms.” Several translations retain the traditional rendering and provide a footnote to help the reader (so New International Version, Phillips, New American Bible), while Barclay (“prayer-boxes”) attempts a one word equivalent; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch follows its dynamic equivalent translation (“prayer-straps”) with an explanatory note, thus being doubly helpful. Phylacteries were the small leather boxes in which were placed a piece of material on which had been written Exodus 13.1-6 and Deuteronomy 6.4-9; 11.13-21. In obedience to the Lord’s command, these small containers were tied to the forehead and upper left arm near the heart (see Exo 13.9, 16; Deut 6.8; 11.18). Make … broad means that the Pharisees attempted to emphasize the degree of their devotion to God by enlarging their phylacteries beyond the size of those ordinarily worn by other Jewish men.
There is no good reason to retain the word phylacteries, and most translators will use an explanatory phrase like that in Good News Translation. However, this is a rather long expression, and sometimes to find a good way to combine this with make … broad requires some restructuring; for example, “the leather boxes with Scripture verses in them that these people wear (on their foreheads and arms) are very big,” “they make sure that the boxes with Scripture verses that they wear are really big,” or “see how big they make those little boxes with Scripture verses in them, the ones they wear on their foreheads and arms.”
Fringes were “tassels” which were worn by Jews on the corners of their outer garments “as a sign of devotion to God” (TEV footnote). This was in obedience to the command of Numbers 15.37-41 (see also Deut 22.12). Jesus himself wore them (see 9.20; 14.36), but his criticism of the Pharisees was that they made theirs unnecessarily long in order to draw attention to their piety. Good News Translation has put the information about “tassels” in a footnote. However, some translators have included this in their translations with sentences such as “and the tassels on their coats that show their devotion to God, see how long they make these” or “and they make very long the tassels on their coats that people wear to show they are devoted to God.”
One possible restructuring of the whole verse that shows the meaning of Jesus’ words clearly is “Those things people wear to show their devotion to God such as the pouches with Scripture verses on the forehead and arms or the tassels on the coats, these people make sure theirs are very large and long.”
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 .