Do you hear what these are saying? is not a question asked merely for the sake of information. But since Jesus replies Yes, it may not be possible to transform the question into an exclamation or affirmation. One way to convey the tone of the question is to say “Can’t you hear what they are saying?” or possibly “Are you listening to what they are saying?”

Have you never read points directly to the Scripture text which follows. Therefore Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “Have you never read in the Holy Scriptures…?” and New English Bible, with specific reference to the following quotation, has “have you never read that text…?” In cases where translators feel that the intent of this rhetorical question will be misunderstood, they may use an affirmation such as “Surely you have read in God’s Word.”

Before translators can address the problems of this quotation, they have to be sure that the phrase Out of the mouth will be understood as speech of some kind. Some make this clear with a rendering such as “You have caused infants and children to speak words of perfect praise.” Others even keep the image of the text with a rendering such as “You have made the mouths of infants and children speak words of perfect praise.” Both of these examples begin with the second part of the quotation, because that order is generally easier for readers to comprehend. But there are languages where the order of the text is quite acceptable, as in “With the words of children and infants you have made perfect praise (for yourself).” In quite a few languages translators will have to indicate who is the recipient of the praise, by using phrases such as “praise to you” or “to praise you perfectly.”

The noun translated babes (Good News Translation “children”) is first used in 11.25 (see comment there). It appears here in a parallel structure with sucklings (literally “nursing babies”). New American Bible has “infants and children,” while New International Version has “children and infants.”

The Scripture passage referred to is Psalm 8.3 of the Septuagint (8.1-2a in English), where the Greek translators used praise to represent a Hebrew word which meant “strength” or “power.” The modifier perfect (so also Good News Translation, Barclay) results from the Greek “perfective” prefix of the verb translated hast brought by Revised Standard Version (Good News Translation “trained … to offer”). The verb itself means “bring to perfection,” and so Moffatt translates “brought praise to perfection.” Luther 1984 accomplishes the same effect by translating the verb as “prepared,” which is then followed by two synonyms which mean “praise.”

Hast brought is in the middle voice, and when taken with the subject you means “You brought (something) to perfection for yourself.” New English Bible reflects this middle voice: “Thou hast made … sound aloud thy praise.” By this appeal to Scripture Jesus affirms that his actions are approved and authenticated by God himself. Children, together with the blind and the crippled, are now the recipients of God’s grace through Jesus the Messiah.

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 .