John 2:20
“This temple took forty-six years to build,” the Jews replied, “and You are going to raise it up in three days?”
BSB
Parallel translations (2) ▾
ASV
The Jews therefore said, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in three days?
KJV
Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
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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
19 tagged words| Original | Transliteration | Meaning | Word study |
|---|---|---|---|
| εἶπαν | eipan | Said | G2036 → |
| οὖν | oun | therefore | G3767 → |
| οἱ | hoi | the | G3588 → |
| Ἰουδαῖοι· | Ioudaioi | Jews; | G2453 → |
| τεσσεράκοντα | tesserakonta | For forty | G5062 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| ἓξ | hex | six | G1803 → |
| ἔτεσιν | etesin | years | G2094 → |
| οἰκοδομήθη | oikodomēthē | was built | G3618 → |
| ὁ | ho | <the> | G3588 → |
| ναὸς | naos | temple | G3485 → |
| οὗτος, | houtos | this, | G3778 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| σὺ | su | You yourself | G4771 → |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → |
| τρισὶν | trisin | three | G5140 → |
| ἡμέραις | hēmerais | days | G2250 → |
| ἐγερεῖς | egereis | will raise up | G1453 → |
| αὐτόν; | auton | it? | G846 → |
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