John 2:19
Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.”
BSB
Parallel translations (2) ▾
ASV
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
KJV
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
⋯
Commentary
2 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
15 tagged words| Original | Transliteration | Meaning | Word study |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ἀπεκρίθη | Apekrithē | Answered | G611 → |
| Ἰησοῦς | Iēsous | Jesus | G2424 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| εἶπεν | eipen | said | G2036 → |
| αὐτοῖς· | autois | to them; | G846 → |
| λύσατε | lusate | do destroy | G3089 → |
| τὸν | ton | <the> | G3588 → |
| ναὸν | naon | temple | G3485 → |
| τοῦτον, | touton | this, | G3778 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → |
| τρισὶν | trisin | three | G5140 → |
| ἡμέραις | hēmerais | days | G2250 → |
| ἐγερῶ | egerō | I will raise up | G1453 → |
| αὐτόν. | auton | it. | G846 → |
The walk
Featured studies on this passage
On John 2:19
Irony in Scripture: More Than the Speaker Knows
Open the study →
On John 2:19
The Seven Signs — John's Book of Signs
Open the study →
On John 2:19
The Tabernacle
A floor plan of the gospel. Eight furniture pieces, three concentric zones, one veil torn the moment Christ died. Among the most architecturally complete typological structures in Scripture.
Open the study →
Walks through John 2
Mary of Nazareth · MannaFest
Open the study →
Walks through John 2
The Messianic Psalms
Six psalms previewing the life of Christ — from begotten Son (Ps 2) to crucified silence (Ps 22) to the Priest-King at God's right hand (Ps 110). Tri-fold taxonomy: Fulfilled in First Coming · Awaiting Second · Progressively Fulfilled.
Open the study →
Walks through John 2
The Cleansing of the Temple — John 2 · Matthew 21
Open the study →
About John
