Matthew 21:12-17 - The Cleansing Of The Temple

¹² Then Jesus went into the Temple, threw out everyone who was selling and buying in the Temple, and overturned the moneychangers' tables and the chairs of those who sold doves. ¹³ He told them, "It is written, "My house is to be called a house of prayer,' but you are turning it into a hideout for bandits!"

¹⁴ Blind and lame people came to him in the Temple, and he healed them. ¹⁵ But when the high priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he had done and the children shouting in the Temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became furious ¹⁶ and asked him, "Do you hear what these people are saying?"

¹⁷ Jesus told them, "Yes! Haven't you ever read, "From the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have created praise'?" Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

¹⁵ When they came to Jerusalem, he went into the Temple and began to throw out those who were selling and those who were buying in the Temple. He overturned the moneychangers' tables and the chairs of those who sold doves. ¹⁶ He wouldn't even let anyone carry a vessel through the Temple.

¹⁷ Then he began to teach them: "It is written, is it not, "My house is to be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you've turned it into a hideout for bandits!" ¹⁸ When the high priests and elders heard this, they began to look for a way to kill him, because they were afraid of him, since the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

¹⁹ When evening came, Jesus and his disciples would leave the city.

⁴⁵ Then Jesus went into the Temple and began to throw out those who were selling things. ⁴⁶ He told them, "It is written, "My house is to be called a house of prayer,' but you have turned it into a hideout for bandits!"

⁴⁷ Then he began teaching in the Temple every day. The high priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him, ⁴⁸ but they couldn't find a way to do it, because all the people were eager to hear him.

¹⁴ In the Temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as moneychangers sitting at their tables. ¹⁵ After making a whip out of cords, he drove all of them out of the Temple, including the sheep and the cattle. He scattered the coins of the moneychangers and knocked over their tables. ¹⁶ Then he told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!"

¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."

¹⁸ Then the Jewish leaders asked him, "What sign can you show us as authority for doing these things?"

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, "Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will rebuild it."

²⁰ The Jewish leaders said, "This sanctuary has been under construction for 46 years, and you're going to rebuild it in three days?"

²¹ But the sanctuary he was speaking about was his own body. ²² After he had been raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this. So they believed the Scripture and the statement that Jesus had made.