Some languages would not say that the rain fell, but rather “it rained” or “the rain came.”
As for floods, it is often necessary to specify what was flooding, as in “the rivers flooded over.” Other translations can say “the flood waters rose up.”
The Greek verb rendered beat upon is different from the one translated “beat against” in verse 27. The verb used here literally means “fall against,” while the one in verse 27 literally means “strike against.” It is difficult to tell which, if either, of the two verbs is intended to be stronger than the other. Commentators do not agree, and no clues are given in the lexicons. Some translations do not distinguish between the two renderings, while others do. New Jerusalem Bible reads “gales blew and hurled themselves against that house … gales blew and struck that house.” Barclay translates “and the winds blew and battered that house … and the winds blew and buffeted that house.” New American Bible renders the verb in verse 27 “the winds blew and lashed against his house,” while translating the first part of verse 25 “When the rainy season set in, the torrents came and the winds blew and buffeted his house.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, which gives the same rendering in each verse, has “Then, when there is a cloudburst, rivers overflow their banks, and the storm rages and shakes the house….”
The phrase the winds blew and beat upon that house can be expressed “there were strong winds that blew against the house” or “strong winds came against that house.”
But it did not fall, except for the negative, appears in the same form in verse 27. The normal word that is used for a building collapsing should be used here.
The translation of founded on the rock will depend on how verse 24 was handled. It may be necessary to say “because the rock on which it was built gave it strength (or, made it 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 .