John 2:21
But Jesus was speaking about the temple of His body.
BSB
Parallel translations (2) ▾
ASV
But he spake of the temple of his body.
KJV
But he spake of the temple of his body.
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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)
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9 tagged wordsThe walk
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About John
