John 2:15
So He made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle. He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.
BSB
Parallel translations (2) ▾
ASV
and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew their tables;
KJV
And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
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Commentary
4 voicesVoices on this verse
loading…Hebraic traditional view
Why there were money-changers in the Temple
It was Passover, one of the three feasts when the Law brought all Israel to Jerusalem, and the courts were a marketplace by design: pilgrims needed animals guaranteed fit for sacrifice, and the Temple tax could not be paid in Roman coins bearing the emperor's image, so approved silver had to be exchanged. The Mishnah records the system plainly: from the 25th of the month Adar, the money-changers' tables were set up IN THE TEMPLE itself (Shekalim 1:3).
So Jesus is not objecting to a black market that snuck in; He is overturning licensed furniture, in the outer court, the one court open to the nations, and calling the whole arrangement what it had made His Father's house.
Sources: Mishnah Shekalim 1:3 (the tables in the Temple) · Exodus 30:13 (the half-shekel the changers served)
Original language & word study
26 tagged words| Original | Transliteration | Meaning | Word study |
|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | And | G2532 → |
| ποιήσας | poiēsas | having made | G4160 → |
| φραγέλλιον | phragellion | a whip | G5416 → |
| ἐκ | ek | of | G1537 → |
| σχοινίων | schoiniōn | cords | G4979 → |
| πάντας | pantas | all | G3956 → |
| ἐξέβαλεν | exebalen | He drove out | G1544 → |
| ἐκ | ek | from | G1537 → |
| τοῦ | tou | the | G3588 → |
| ἱεροῦ, | hi'erou | temple, | G2411 → |
| τά | ta | <the> | G3588 → |
| τε | te | both | G5037 → |
| πρόβατα | probata | the sheep | G4263 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| τοὺς | tous | the | G3588 → |
| βόας, | boas | oxen, | G1016 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| τῶν | tōn | of the | G3588 → |
| κολλυβιστῶν | kollubistōn | money changers | G2855 → |
| ἐξέχεεν | execheen | He poured out | G1632 → |
| τὸ | to | the | G3588 → |
| κέρμα, | kerma | coin, | G2772 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| τὰς | tas | the | G3588 → |
| τραπέζας | trapezas | tables | G5132 → |
| ἀνέτρεψεν, | anetrepsen | He overthrew, | G396 → |
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