Luke 12:39
12:39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief 1 was coming, he would not have let 2 his house be broken into.
Luke 19:46
19:46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ 3 but you have turned it into a den 4 of robbers!” 5
1 sn On Jesus pictured as a returning thief, see 1 Thess 5:2, 4; 2 Pet 3:10; Rev 3:3; 16:15.
2 tc Most mss (א1 A B L Q W Θ Ψ 070 Ë1,13 33 Ï lat syp,h sams bo) read “he would have watched and not let” here, but this looks like an assimilation to Matt 24:43. The alliance of two important and early mss along with a few others (Ì75 א* [D] e i sys,c samss), coupled with much stronger internal evidence, suggests that the shorter reading is authentic.
3 sn A quotation from Isa 56:7.
4 tn Or “a hideout” (see L&N 1.57).
5 sn A quotation from Jer 7:11. The meaning of Jesus’ statement about making the temple courts a den of robbers probably operates here at two levels. Not only were the religious leaders robbing the people financially, but because of this they had also robbed them spiritually by stealing from them the opportunity to come to know God genuinely. It is possible that these merchants had recently been moved to this location for convenience.