As the books of Leviticus (26.1-46) and Deuteronomy (28.1-68; 30.15-20) draw to an end with the pronouncement of blessings and curses, so the Sermon on the Mount concludes with a promise (7.24-25) and a warning (7.26-27).
In Greek the pronoun of mine is emphatic. The demonstrative pronoun these (not found in Luke) indicates clearly that these words refer to the content of the Sermon which is now being brought to its conclusion.
There will be languages where some grammatical features will indicate that these words refer to the ones just spoken. However, it is important that the reference should be not only to the immediately preceding verses. It may be necessary to say “all these things I have said” or “what I have said here.”
In the context does is the equivalent of “obeys” (Good News Translation). Similarly in verse 26 “does not do” means “does not obey” (Good News Bible).
It may not be possible to say one does or even “obeys” words. In such cases translators can have “does what I have said to do” or “obeys these instructions.”
Good News Translation and a number of other translations (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New English Bible, Phillips, New American Bible) see in the Greek future tense will be like a present meaning: “is like.” This is because, in English and in some other European languages, the present tense is used to describe something that is true whenever it may occur. Other languages may have their own ways of saying such things.
In place of the impersonal passive will be like, some manuscripts have a first person singular active form “I will liken.” TC-GNT believes that the alternative reading may have been influenced by the scribes’ familiarity with the Lukan form of the saying: “I will show you what he is like” (6.47; 24.45; 25.2, 4, 8, 9). Wise man is a traditional and literal rendering. New English Bible (“who had the sense [to build]”) and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“who thought about what he was doing [and built]”) are more dynamic. The phrase wise man is usually translated literally but can also be rendered as “a man of good judgment,” “a sensible man,” or “a person who considered carefully what he was doing.”
The rock (so also New International Version): the use of the definite article the in this construction is unnatural for English speakers, though it is found in the Greek text. Good News Translation “on rock” is a more natural equivalent. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “on rocky (that is, rock-like) ground.” See comment on “the sand” in verse 26.
To build a house upon the rock does not mean it was built on rocks, that is, that the builder used rocks as a foundation. It refers more to being built on a solid rock. This is a problem in many parts of the world where houses are built without foundations, and are in fact built on soil or sand quite frequently. (It is granaries that are built on rock so as to keep out termites.) In such places translators have often wanted to say “built his house in a solid way” or “built it on a high place.” This does change the analogy of Jesus quite a bit, and it may be better to say “built his house on a rock to make it very strong.”
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 .