Matthew 21:12

Cleansing the Temple

21:12 Then Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts, and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.

Matthew 23:16

23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple is bound by nothing. But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.’


tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

tn Grk “the temple.”

sn The merchants (those who were selling) would have been located in the Court of the Gentiles.

tn Grk “the temple.”

sn Matthew (here, 21:12-27), Mark (11:15-19) and Luke (19:45-46) record this incident of the temple cleansing at the end of Jesus’ ministry. John (2:13-16) records a cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. See the note on the word temple courts in John 2:14 for a discussion of the relationship of these accounts to one another.

tn Grk “Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing.”