Cleansing the Temple

13 The Jewish Passover(A) was near, and so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.(B) 14 In the temple(C) he found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and he also found the money changers sitting there. 15 After making a whip out of cords,(D) he drove everyone out of the temple with their sheep(E) and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. 16 He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s(F) house(G) into a marketplace!”[a](H)

17 And his disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal(I) for your house will consume(J) me.[b](K)

18 So the Jews replied to him, “What sign will you show us for doing these things?”

19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple,[c](L) and I will raise it up in three days.”(M)

20 Therefore the Jews said, “This temple took forty-six years to build,[d] and will you raise it up in three days?” (N)

21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.(O) 22 So when he was raised from the dead,(P) his disciples remembered that he had said this,(Q) and they believed the Scripture(R) and the statement Jesus had made.

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Footnotes

  1. 2:16 Lit a house of business
  2. 2:17 Ps 69:9
  3. 2:19 Or sanctuary, also in vv. 20,21
  4. 2:20 Or was built forty-six years ago

13 And the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

The Cleansing of the Temple

14 And he found in the temple courts[a] those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated. 15 And he made a whip of cords and[b] drove them[c] all out of the temple courts,[d] both the sheep and the oxen, and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their[e] tables. 16 And to the ones selling the doves he said, “Take these things away from here! Do not make my Father’s house a marketplace!”[f] 17 His disciples remembered that it is written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”[g]

18 So the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign do you show to us, because you are doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up!” 20 Then the Jews said, “This temple has been under construction[h] forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the saying that Jesus had spoken.

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Footnotes

  1. John 2:14 Here “courts” is supplied to distinguish this area from the interior of the temple building itself
  2. John 2:15 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“made”) has been translated as a finite verb
  3. John 2:15 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  4. John 2:15 *Here “courts” is supplied to distinguish this area from the interior of the temple building itself
  5. John 2:15 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  6. John 2:16 Literally “a market house”; or “a house of merchants” (an allusion to Zech 14:21)
  7. John 2:17 A quotation from Ps 69:9
  8. John 2:20 This translation of the aorist verb is based on a very close parallel in Ezra 5:16 (LXX), where it is clear from the following verb that the construction had not yet been completed