Matthew 21:13
in Matthew 21And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and he saith unto them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer: but ye make it a den of robbers.
KJV
And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
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This verse in Matthew 21
Commentary
16 notes on this verseAnd he cast out all them that sold and bought. It should be known that in obedience to the Law, in the Temple of the Lord venerated throughout the whole world, and resorted to by Jews out of every quarter, innumerable victims were sacrificed, especially on festival days, bulls, rams, goats; the poor offering young pigeons and turtle-doves, that they might not omit all sacrifice. But it would happen that those who came from a distance would have no victim.
This site's exposition
cast out all them that sold and bought
on Matthew 21:12-13
Jesus cast out all them that sold and bought, and the trade he ends sat specifically in the Court of the Gentiles, the one court a Gentile worshipper was permitted to enter, so the commerce had crowded out the very access his house was meant to give the nations. His citation joins Isaiah 56:7, my house shall be called an house of prayer for all people, to Jeremiah 7:11's den of thieves, naming both what the temple was for and what it had become. This is the second such cleansing the Gospels record, the first near the start of his ministry in John 2, and the bench reads the repetition as proof the abuse had simply returned.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
(Regula ad Serv. Dei, 3.) Let no one therefore do ought in the oratory, but that for which it was made and whence it got its name. It follows, But ye have made if a den of thieves. (de Cons. Ev. ii. 68.) It is manifest that the Lord did this thing not once but twice; the first time is told by John, this second occasion by the other three.
For in that they ought neither to sell nor to buy, but to give their time to prayer, being assembled in a house of prayer, whence it follows, And he saith unto them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer. (Is. 56:7.) Mystically; The Temple of God is the Church of Christ, wherein are many, who live not, as they ought, spiritually, but after the flesh; and that house of prayer which is built of living stones they make by their actions to be a den of thieves. But if we must express more closely the three kinds of men cast out of the Temple, we may say thus. Whosoever among a Christian people spend their time in nothing else but buying and selling, continuing but little in prayers or in other right actions, these are the buyers and sellers in the Temple of God. Deacons who do not lay out well the funds of their Churches, but grow rich out of the poor man's portion, these are the money-changers whose tables Christ overturns. But that the deacons preside over the tables of Church money, we learn from the Act of the Apostles (Acts 6:2.) Bishops who commit Churches to those they ought not, are they that sell the doves, that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit, whose seats Christ overturns. Or, in His second coming He shall cast forth and overturn those whom He shall find unworthy in God's temple.
She has none to whom to make such a promise; and if she have had, she does not make it; since even the earthly temple of God can sooner have been called by the Lord a "den of robbers," than of adulterers and fornicators.
(Verse 12, 13.) And Jesus entered the temple of God and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. And He said to them, 'It is written: My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.' Then Jesus entered the temple area accompanied by the crowd of believers (who had spread their garments so that the colt could walk on them without being harmed). He expelled all those who were selling and buying in the temple, overturned the tables of the money changers, and scattered the seats of those selling doves. And he said to them, quoting from the holy scriptures (Isaiah 56) and (Jeremiah 7), that his Father's house should be a house of prayer and not a den of robbers or a house of merchandise, as it is written in another Gospel (John 2). First of all, it must be known that according to the commands of the most august Law, in the whole world, in the temple of the Lord, and from almost all the regions of the Jews, countless offerings were being sacrificed, especially on festive days, of bulls, rams, and goats; so that the poor would not be without offering, those who offered would present young doves and turtles; it often happened that those who had come from afar did not have victims. Therefore, the priests devised a way to take prey from the people, and they sold all the animals they needed for sacrifices, so that they would sell to those who did not have them, and they themselves would receive them again when bought. He dispersed this band of people who were frequently coming due to their lack of resources, those who were in need of expenses, and not only did they not have offerings, but they didn't even have birds and cheap gifts to buy. So they appointed moneylenders who would lend money under collateral. […]
A commentator
John ChrysostomHomily on the Gospel of Matthew 67 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
This John likewise saith, but he in the beginning of his Gospel, this at the end. Whence it is probable this was done twice, and at different seasons. And it is evident both from the times, and from their reply. For there He came at the very passover, but here much before. And there the Jews say, "What sign showest thou us?" but here they hold their peace, although reproved, because He was now marvelled at amongst all men. And this is a heavier charge against the Jews, that when He had done this not once only, but a second time, they continued in their trafficking, and said that He was an adversary of God, when they ought even from hence to have learnt His honor for His Father and His own might. For indeed He also wrought miracles, and they saw His words agreeing with His works. But not even so were they persuaded, but "were sore displeased," and this while they heard the prophet crying aloud, and the children in a manner beyond their age proclaiming Him. Wherefore also He Himself sets up Isaiah against them as an accuser, saying, "My house shall be called a house of prayer."
9 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church3 voices
About this temple it is soon added: "My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves." For those who sat in the temple to receive gifts, it was certainly not doubtful that they would seek to harm those who gave nothing. Therefore the house of prayer had been made a den of thieves, because they knew how to stand in the temple for this purpose: either to eagerly pursue bodily those not giving gifts, or to kill spiritually those who did give. To them it is rightly said: "My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves," because when perverse men sometimes hold a place of religion, there they slay with the swords of their malice where they ought to have given life to their neighbors through the intercession of their prayer. The temple and house of God is also the very mind and conscience of the faithful. If at any time it brings forth perverse thoughts in injury to a neighbor, it is as though robbers are dwelling in a cave and killing those who walk by in simplicity, when they thrust swords of injury into those who are guilty of nothing. For the mind of the faithful is no longer a house of prayer but a den of thieves when, having abandoned the innocence and simplicity of holiness, it strives to do that by which it might harm its neighbors.
As Master of the house, which is the temple, He cast out the sellers, showing that the things of the Father are also His own. He did this out of concern for the good order of the temple, but also to show the transformation that …
"And he said to them: it is written" etc.; here he reproves them. And first in that which pertains to the dignity of the temple; secondly, in that which pertains to its use. "It is written," namely (Isa 56:7), "my house is a house of …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
21 ), as it was a type of Christ; therefore Daniel looked that way in prayer; and in this sense no house or place is now, or can be, a house of prayer, for Christ is our Temple; yet in some sense the appointed places of our religious assemblies may be so called, as places where prayer is wont to be made, Acts xvi.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
To make up communion with God, we must not only speak to him in prayer, but hear what he has to say to us by his word; ministers must give themselves both to the word and to prayer, Acts vi. Now that Christ taught in the temple, that scripture was fulfilled ( Isa. ii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And said unto them, it is written,.... In Isa 56:7. My house shall be called the house of prayer.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
My house shall be called the house of prayer - This is taken from Isa 56:7. But ye have made it a den of thieves - This is taken from Jer 7:11. Our Lord alludes here to those dens and caves in Judea, in which the public robbers either hid or kept themselves fortified. They who are placed in the Church of Christ to serve souls, and do it not, and they who enjoy the revenues of the Church, and neglect the service of it, are thieves and robbers in more senses than one.
We have in these verses an account of two remarkable events in our Lord's history. In both, there was something eminently figurative and typical. Each was an emblem of spiritual things. Beneath the surface of each, lie lessons of solemn instruction. The first event that demands our attention, is our Lord's visit to the temple. He found His Father's house in a state which too truly shadowed forth the general condition of the whole Jewish church--everything out of order, and out of course. He found the courts of that holy building disgracefully profaned by worldly transactions. Trading, and buying, and selling, were actually going on within its walls. There stood dealers ready to supply the Jew who came from distant countries, with any sacrifice he wanted. There sat the money-changer, ready to change his foreign money for the current coin of the land. Bulls, and sheep, and goats, and pigeons, were there exposed for sale, as if the place had been a market. The jingling of money might there be heard, as if these holy courts had been a bank or an exchange. Such were the scenes that met our Lord's eyes. He saw it all with holy indignation. "He drove out all of those who sold and bought." He "overthrew the money changers' tables." Resistance there was none, for men knew that He was right. Objection there was none, for all felt that he was only reforming a notorious abuse, which had been basely permitted for the sake of gain. Well might He sound in the ears of the astonished traders, as they fled from the temple--"It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of robbers!" Let us see in our Lord's conduct on this occasion, a striking type of what He will do when He comes again the second time. He will purify His visible church as He purified the temple.
We have in these verses an account of two remarkable events in our Lord's history. In both, there was something eminently figurative and typical. Each was an emblem of spiritual things. Beneath the surface of each, lie lessons of solemn instruction. The first event that demands our attention, is our Lord's visit to the temple. He found His Father's house in a state which too truly shadowed forth the general condition of the whole Jewish church--everything out of order, and out of course. He found the courts of that holy building disgracefully profaned by worldly transactions.
The words behind it
16 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | And | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| λέγει | legei | He says | G3004 → | 1325 times |
| αὐτοῖς· | autois | to them; | G846 → | 5565 times |
| γέγραπται· | gegraptai | It has been written: | G1125 → | 189 times |
| ὁ | ho | The | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| οἶκός | oikos | house | G3624 → | 112 times |
| μου | mou | of Mine | G3165 → | 1936 times |
| οἶκος | oikos | a house | G3624 → | 112 times |
| προσευχῆς | proseuches | of prayer | G4335 → | |
| κληθήσεται, | klethesetai | will be called,’ | G2564 → | 147 times |
| ὑμεῖς | humeis | You yourselves | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| αὐτὸν | auton | it | G846 → | 5565 times |
| ποιεῖτε | poieite | make | G4160 → | 569 times |
| σπήλαιον | spelaion | a den | G4693 → | |
| λῃστῶν. | leston | of robbers.’ | G3027 → | 15 times |
καὶAnd
kaiG2532 →9120 times
λέγειHe says
legeiG3004 →1325 times
αὐτοῖς·to them;
autoisG846 →5565 times
γέγραπται·It has been written:
gegraptaiG1125 →189 times
ὁThe
hoG3588 →19766 times
οἶκόςhouse
oikosG3624 →112 times
μουof Mine
mouG3165 →1936 times
οἶκοςa house
oikosG3624 →112 times
προσευχῆςof prayer
proseuchesG4335 →
κληθήσεται,will be called,’
klethesetaiG2564 →147 times
ὑμεῖςYou yourselves
humeisG4771 →2973 times
δὲhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
αὐτὸνit
autonG846 →5565 times
ποιεῖτεmake
poieiteG4160 →569 times
σπήλαιονa den
spelaionG4693 →
λῃστῶν.of robbers.’
lestonG3027 →15 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Mark 11:17Then Jesus began to teach them, and He declared, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of…
it leads to
- Isaiah 56:7
I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My house will be called…
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 7:11
Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 19:46
He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be a house of prayer.’ But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- John 2:16
To those selling doves He said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn My Father’s house into a marketplace!”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 56:7
Through
Isaiah 56:7I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My house will be called…
it leads to
- Mark 11:17
Then Jesus began to teach them, and He declared, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 2:2–3
In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to…
- Malachi 1:11
For My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name…
- Micah 4:1–2
In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to…
- Mark 11:17
Where this verse is studied
About Matthew
This page draws on 14 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 39; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew; Jerome, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Jerome, Commentary on Matthew; John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 67; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae on Matthew; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Tertullian, On Modesty; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Matthew and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Matthew.