The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew21:12–17

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

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Matthew 21:12–17 — Jesus Cleanses the Temple. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

12

Then Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai Iēsous eisēlthen eis to hieron kai exebalen pantas tous agorazontas kai pōlountas en tō hierō kai katestrepsen tas trapezas tōn kollybistōn kai tas kathedras tōn pōlountōn tas peristeras

Word by word29 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
εἰσῆλθενeisēlthenenteredG1525
√ εἰσέρχομαι — to enter (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
Aorist active of eiserchomai (G1525), a single completed entry. Benson notes what the verb does not do: "He did not go up to the court, or to the palace, though he came in as a king; but to the temple." The King enters His own house, not a government building.
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ἱερόνhierontemple [courts]G2411
√ ἱερόν — a sacred place, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
hieron: a sacred place, the temple precinct with its courts The accusative of destination. The word covers the whole walled complex, so the scene is the outer court, the only part open to Gentiles and to the ritually excluded. Gill lists the precise trades carried on there (Passover lambs, oxen for the Chagiga, drink offerings redeemed by ticket); Pulpit adds that the priests let the sacred area out for rent. The offence is therefore not commerce as such but commerce planted exactly where the nations were to pray.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐξέβαλενexebalendrove outG1544
√ ἐκβάλλω — to eject (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ekballō: to eject, cast out Aorist indicative active, third singular: one man, one act. Cambridge judges that "a look of divine authority, the enthusiasm of His Galilaean followers, and the consciousness of wrongdoing on the part of the traders, rather than any special exercise of miraculous power, effected this triumph." Barnes gives four reasons the traders submitted, the first being that "they were overawed by his authority." The Verifier records the same lexeme at Mark 11:15 and John 2:15, the only other cleansings.
πάνταςpantasallG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
pantas (G3956), accusative plural masculine: not a sample but the whole trade, buyers as well as sellers.
τοὺςtouswho wereG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ἀγοράζονταςagorazontasbuyingG59
√ ἀγοράζω — properly, to go to market, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveAccusative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πωλοῦνταςpōlountassellingG4453
√ πωλέω — to barter (as a pedlar), iVerbPresent Participle ActiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ἐνen[there]G1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtō. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
ἱερῷhierō. . .G2411
√ ἱερόν — a sacred place, iNounDative Neuter Singular
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
κατέστρεψενkatestrepsenHe overturnedG2690
√ καταστρέφω — to turn upside down, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
katastrephō: to turn down, to turn upside down The verb of inversion. What the money changers had built was a stable institution with priestly sanction; the aorist leaves it on its side. Note the grammar of responsibility: the participles (buying, selling) describe ongoing habit, while every verb of judgment here is a punctiliar aorist.
τὰςtastheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Plural
τραπέζαςtrapezastablesG5132
√ τράπεζα — a table or stool (as being four-legged), usually for food (figuratively, a meal)NounAccusative Feminine Plural
trapeza (G5132), properly a four-legged table, the standard word for a banker's counter. A relatively uncommon noun (14 verses) which the Verifier confirms is shared with Mark 11:15 and John 2:15.
τῶνtōnof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
κολλυβιστῶνkollybistōnmoney changersG2855
√ κολλυβιστής — probably akin to G2854 (κολλούριον))NounGenitive Masculine Plural
kollybistēs: a dealer in small coin, an exchange-fee taker These men supplied the half shekel of Exodus 30:13, the sanctuary payment in Hebrew coin, taking a percentage for the service. Poole describes the mechanism exactly: "men that were furnished with half Shekels to change with the people, that every one might have his half shekel." Cambridge, citing Lightfoot, holds the fee itself unlawful. The sin lies in taxing access to atonement.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τὰςtastheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Plural
καθέδραςkathedrasseatsG2515
√ καθέδρα — a bench (literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Feminine Plural
kathedra (G2515), a bench or seat. A rare noun (3 verses). Two chapters later the same word names the seat of Moses which the scribes occupy (Matthew 23:2), so the seats He overturns here and the seat He indicts there are, lexically, one word.
τῶνtōnof thoseG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
πωλούντωνpōlountōnsellingG4453
√ πωλέω — to barter (as a pedlar), iVerbPresent Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Plural
τὰςtasG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Plural
περιστεράςperisterasdovesG4058
√ περιστερά — a pigeonNounAccusative Feminine Plural
peristera (G4058), the pigeon or dove: by Leviticus 5:7 and 12:8 the offering of the person who cannot afford a lamb. The last thing named in the verse is therefore the poor person's sacrifice, sold at a profit.
13

And 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.’”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai legei autois Gegraptai mou Ho oikos klēthēsetai oikos proseuchēs de hymeis poieite auton Spēlaion lēstōn

Word by word16 · parsed
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
λέγειlegeiHe declaredG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
Present indicative legei (G3004), a historic present: the narrative shifts to the immediate as He speaks.
αὐτοῖςautoisto themG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ΓέγραπταιGegraptaiIt is writtenG1125
√ γράφω — to "grave", especially to writeVerbPerfect Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
graphō: to grave, to write Perfect passive, third singular. The force is resultative, a written thing still in force, which is why the single word can function as a whole argument. Ellicott identifies the quotation as "a free combination of two prophetic utterances," Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11. Because this is Greek quoting Hebrew Scripture, no shared Strong's lexeme can be computed across the two Testaments, so the link is recorded below as structural even though the citation is explicit.
μουmouMyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
mou (G1473) stands first for emphasis: the house is Mine. The possessive, not the noun, carries the claim, and it is God's claim spoken by the one who has just acted as owner.
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
οἶκόςoikoshouseG3624
√ οἶκος — a dwelling (more or less extensive, literal or figurative)NounNominative Masculine Singular
oikos: a dwelling, a house or household The same noun twice in one clause: the house that is God's is to be called a house of prayer. Gill notes the Targum already paraphrased Isaiah 56:7 as "the house of my sanctuary shall be called an house of prayer," so the reading is not a Christian novelty. Mark's fuller citation keeps Isaiah's "for all nations," which is why the Court of the Gentiles is the exact place at issue; Pulpit, citing Lange, calls the market "a robbery of the rights of the Gentiles."
κληθήσεταιklēthēsetaiwill be calledG2564
√ καλέω — to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise)VerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
kaleō: to call, to name aloud Future passive: the naming is God's and still ahead. The grammar therefore contains a promise as well as a rebuke, and the rebuke is that they have anticipated the promise with a counterfeit.
οἶκοςoikosa houseG3624
√ οἶκος — a dwelling (more or less extensive, literal or figurative)NounNominative Masculine Singular
προσευχῆςproseuchēsof prayerG4335
√ προσευχή — prayer (worship)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
proseuchē: prayer, worship The widest of the prayer words, and here a genitive of purpose: the building exists for this. ⚙ Of everything the Temple did (sacrifice, tithe, festival, purification), the line He quotes defines the house by the one act that costs nothing and can be performed by anyone standing in the outer court, the foreigner of Isaiah 56:7 included. That is why the trade in exchange fees and in doves is not merely untidy in this precinct: it puts a price on the only free thing the house was for.
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὑμεῖςhymeisyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Plural
ποιεῖτεpoieiteare makingG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
Present active, second plural: continuous action, and Pulpit notes the better manuscripts read "ye make it," not "ye have made it." The offence is not a past lapse but a running enterprise.
αὐτὸνautonitG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ΣπήλαιονSpēlaiona denG4693
√ σπήλαιον — a cavernNounAccusative Neuter Singular
spēlaion: a cavern A rare noun (6 verses), shared with Mark 11:17 and Luke 19:46 alone in this sense. Ellicott hears the resulting clash: "The wranglings of such a company over the booty they had carried off were reproduced in the Temple, and mingled with the Hallelujahs of the Levites and the Hosannas of the crowds."
λῃστῶνlēstōnof robbersG3027
√ λῃστής — a brigandNounGenitive Masculine Plural
lēstēs: a brigand, an armed bandit Genitive plural. Barnes reads the charge economically: they "took advantage of the poor," selling what was needed for sacrifice "at an enormous price." Gill reads it institutionally: the temple "was a sanctuary to them: here they screened themselves." Both are claims about motive drawn from the word, and Jeremiah 7:11 supplies the original indictment, with its context of innocent blood shed in that very place (Cambridge).
14

The blind and the lame came to Him at the temple, and He healed them.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai typhloi kai chōloi prosēlthon autō en tō hierō kai etherapeusen autous

Word by word12 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τυφλοὶtyphloi[The] blindG5185
√ τυφλός — opaque (as if smoky), iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
typhlos: opaque, blind Anarthrous nominative plural. Ellicott places these people at the Temple approaches begging alms (compare Acts 3:2), so the sufferers were always there; what is new is that they now come inside and are answered. Whether the blind and lame were ever formally barred is disputed: Ellicott says the Septuagint form of 2 Samuel 5:8 would suggest exclusion, but "the words in italics are not in the Hebrew," and "there is no evidence from Jewish writers that the blind and the lame were ever, as a matter of fact, excluded from the Temple."
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
χωλοὶchōloi[the] lameG5560
√ χωλός — "halt", iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
chōlos (G5560), halt, lame. Paired with typhlos the two adjectives form a fixed idiom for the disabled poor, and the same pair stands in David's taunt at the taking of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:6-8) and in Isaiah's promise of the coming of God (Isaiah 35:4-6), which Pulpit names here.
προσῆλθονprosēlthoncameG4334
√ προσέρχομαι — to approach, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
proserchomai: to approach, to draw near Aorist active plural. In Matthew this verb repeatedly introduces petitioners and disciples approaching Jesus; here it marks a threshold crossed. The traders were cast out; these are not merely admitted but received in the cleared space.
αὐτῷautōto HimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἐνenatG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtōtheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
ἱερῷhierōtempleG2411
√ ἱερόν — a sacred place, iNounDative Neuter Singular
The locative dative repeats verse 12 word for word. Gill is precise: it is "that part of it, the court of the Gentiles, and mountain of the house, out of which he had cast the buyers and sellers," and "in the room of them, were brought in these objects of his pity." The geography is the argument.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐθεράπευσενetherapeusenHe healedG2323
√ θεραπεύω — to wait upon menially, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
therapeuō: to serve, to wait upon, hence to heal Aorist active singular with a plural object: the whole company healed in one stroke of narration. Henry ties the act to prophecy: "his healing in the temple was the fulfilling the promise, that the glory of the latter house should be greater than the glory of the former" (Haggai 2:9, which Gill and Barnes also invoke). The glory of the second house, on this reading, is not its masonry but its mercy.
αὐτούςautousthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
15

But the chief priests and scribes were indignant when they saw the wonders He performed and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de hoi archiereis kai hoi grammateis ēganaktēsan idontes ta thaumasia ha epoiēsen kai tous paidas kai legontas tous krazontas en tō hierō Hōsanna tō huiō Dauid

Word by word26 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἀρχιερεῖςarchiereischief priestsG749
√ ἀρχιερεύς — the high-priest (literally, of the Jews, typically, Christ)NounNominative Masculine Plural
archiereus: high priest, chief priest Nominative plural. Ellicott and Cambridge identify these as the heads of the twenty-four priestly courses together with Annas and Caiaphas; Pulpit adds that many were Sadducees and formed "a wealthy, aristocratical body" with delegated authority. They are, in other words, the landlords of the market just overturned, which is why they, and not the crowd, are the ones vexed.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
γραμματεῖςgrammateisscribesG1122
√ γραμματεύς — scribe, town-clerkNounNominative Masculine Plural
grammateus (G1122), scribe or town clerk: the professional readers of Scripture, which is exactly the office verse 16 will turn against them.
ἠγανάκτησανēganaktēsanwere indignantG23
√ ἀγανακτέω — akin to the base of G43 (ἀγκάλη))VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
aganakteō: to be indignant, vexed Aorist active plural. Benson notices the moral shape of the reaction: "if they had any sense, they could not but own the miracle of them; and if any good-nature, they could not but be in love with the mercy of them; yet, because they were resolved to oppose him, even for these works they envied and hated him." The verb is a settled resolve reacting to undeniable evidence.
ἰδόντεςidonteswhen they sawG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
Aorist participle of horaō (G3708), "having seen": the indignation is caused by sight, not report. They are eyewitnesses of the miracles they will later prosecute.
τὰtatheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
θαυμάσιαthaumasiawondersG2297
√ θαυμάσιος — wondrous, iAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
thaumasios: wondrous things A New Testament hapax (Pulpit). The word gathers both the expulsion and the healings into one class of undeniable acts. Barnes reports the sequel from Mark and Luke: envy at this is what set the plot to kill Him moving.
ἃhaG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἐποίησενepoiēsenHe performedG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
παῖδαςpaidaschildrenG3816
√ παῖς — a boy (as often beaten with impunity), or (by analogy), a girl, and (genitive case) a childNounAccusative Masculine Plural
pais: a boy, a child, a servant Accusative plural masculine. Cambridge notes such children "were taught at an early age to join in the temple services," and Gill supplies the canon that a child who could shake the Lulab was obliged to carry it at the Hosanna; what is unprecedented, he says, is that they cry Hosanna to Jesus as David's son. The same noun means servant or slave, so the word that names the least in the courts is also the word for the one who serves.
καὶkaivvvG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
λέγονταςlegontasvvvG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveAccusative Masculine Plural
τοὺςtousvvvG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
κράζονταςkrazontasshoutingG2896
√ κράζω — properly, to "croak" (as a raven) or scream, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveAccusative Masculine Plural
krazō: to croak, to scream, to cry out Present participle, continuous. This is the rare Hosanna cry (G5614, 5 verses) carried indoors from the road of verse 9; the Verifier confirms the lexeme shared with Matthew 21:9, Mark 11:9-10 and John 12:13.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtōtheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
ἱερῷhierōtemple [courts]G2411
√ ἱερόν — a sacred place, iNounDative Neuter Singular
ὩσαννὰHōsannaHosannaG5614
√ ὡσαννά — oh save!Hebrew Word
Hōsanna (G5614), untransliterated Hebrew in the Greek text, "oh save!" It is a prayer before it is an acclamation, and it is being prayed in the house that verse 13 has just declared a house of prayer. The children, not the priests, are the ones praying there.
τῷtōto theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
υἱῷhuiōSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounDative Masculine Singular
huios (G5207) with Dauid: the royal messianic title. The children apply to Jesus in the temple what the priests will not, and Gill notes even the Zohar reads Psalm 8:2 of the Messiah, saying "babes and sucklings shall give strength to the king Messiah."
ΔαυίδDauidof DavidG1138
√ Δαβίδ — Dabid (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
16

“Do You hear what these children are saying?” they asked. “Yes,” Jesus answered. “Have you never read: ‘From the mouths of children and infants You have ordained praise’?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Akoueis ti houtoi legousin kai eipan autō Nai de Ho Iēsous legei autois oudepote anegnōte hoti Ek stomatos nēpiōn kai thēlazontōn Katērtisō ainon

Word by word23 · parsed
ἈκούειςAkoueisDo You hearG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
akouō: to hear, in various senses Present tense, second singular: they address Him alone. The question is a demand that He silence the cry, and Pulpit reads their motive as professed zeal: they "recognize that these cries implied high homage, if not actual worship."
τίtiwhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
οὗτοιhoutoithese [children]G3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Plural
λέγουσινlegousinare sayingG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εἶπανeipanthey askedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
αὐτῷautōG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ΝαίNaiYesG3483
√ ναί — yesParticle
Nai (G3483), "yes." One particle, and it is the whole answer to the charge of blasphemy: He hears, and He does not stop them. Gill: it signifies "he did hear, and well approved of what they said, and was ready to vindicate it."
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
λέγειlegeiansweredG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
οὐδέποτεoudepotevvvG3763
√ οὐδέποτε — not even at any time, iAdverb
ἀνέγνωτεanegnōteHave you never readG314
√ ἀναγινώσκω — to know again, iVerbAorist Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
anaginōskō: to know again, to read Aorist with oudepote, "did you never read." Ellicott lists this as a question Jesus repeatedly puts to the scribes (Matthew 12:3, 12:5, 19:4, 21:42, 22:31) and says it "expressed very forcibly the estimate which He formed of their character as interpreters." The professional readers are told they have not read. Benson presses it: "Are you unacquainted with the Scriptures?"
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἘκEkFromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
στόματοςstomatos[the] mouthsG4750
√ στόμα — the mouth (as if a gash in the face)NounGenitive Neuter Singular
νηπίωνnēpiōnof childrenG3516
√ νήπιος — not speaking, iAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
nēpios: not speaking, an infant Genitive plural. The lexical force is privative: those without speech. Set beside paidas in verse 15 the exchange becomes an argument about who is qualified to name Him, and the answer is the least qualified.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
θηλαζόντωνthēlazontōninfantsG2337
√ θηλάζω — to suckle, (by implication) to suckVerbPresent Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Plural
thēlazō (G2337), to suckle: a rare verb (5 verses), elsewhere in the Gospels almost always in the woes on nursing mothers in the days of judgment. Here the same helplessness is the instrument of praise rather than the object of pity.
ΚατηρτίσωKatērtisōYou have ordainedG2675
√ καταρτίζω — to complete thoroughly, iVerbAorist Indicative Middle2nd Person Singular
katartizō: to complete thoroughly, to mend, to fit together Aorist middle. The image is of something assembled and made sound, which is why Geneva can hold the Hebrew and Greek together: "that which is most perfect is stable and sure." The subject of the verb is God, in a psalm addressed to the LORD, and Jesus lets the words stand as spoken about the praise now being offered to Himself. Pulpit says the psalm was "originally, indeed, applied to Jehovah, but one which he claims as addressed to himself."
αἶνονainonpraiseG136
√ αἶνος — properly, a story, but used in the sense of G1868 (ἔπαινος)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
ainos (G136), praise or a tale of praise: a very rare noun, in only 2 verses. The Verifier finds its only companion at Luke 18:43, where the healed blind man glorifies God and the people give praise. The word Jesus uses to defend the children's cry is the word that elsewhere describes the response to the healing of blindness, which is what He has just done in verse 14.
17

Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where He spent the night.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai katalipōn autous exēlthen exō tēs poleōs eis Bēthanian kai ēulisthē ekei

Word by word12 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
καταλιπὼνkatalipōnHe leftG2641
√ καταλείπω — to leave down, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
kataleipō: to leave down, to leave behind, to forsake Aorist participle, subordinate to the main verb: the departure is the consequence of the abandonment. Benson reads a double motive, "both in prudence, lest they should have seized him before his hour was come, and in justice, because they had forfeited the favour of his presence." Geneva presses it further: "Christ does in this way forsake the wicked, for he has a consideration and regard for his Church."
αὐτοὺςautousthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἐξῆλθενexēlthen[and] wentG1831
√ ἐξέρχομαι — to issue (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
exerchomai (G1831), aorist: the counterpart to eisēlthen in verse 12. The unit opens with an entry into the sacred place and closes with an exit from the city, and the two aorists frame everything between them.
ἔξωexōout ofG1854
√ ἔξω — out(-side, of doors), literally or figurativelyPreposition
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
πόλεωςpoleōscityG4172
√ πόλις — a town (properly, with walls, of greater or less size)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ΒηθανίανBēthanianBethanyG963
√ Βηθανία — date-houseNounAccusative Feminine Singular
Bethany, about fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem by John 11:18 (Gill), on the south east of the Mount of Olives (Cambridge). Ellicott reads the silence of the first three Gospels about Lazarus, Martha and Mary as deliberate, "suggesting that there were reasons which for a time ... led all writers of the records ... to abstain from the mention of any facts that might attract attention to them." That is an inference about Gospel formation, not a datum of the text.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ηὐλίσθηēulisthēwhere He spent the nightG835
√ αὐλίζομαι — to pass the night (properly, in the open air)VerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
aulizomai: to pass the night, properly in the open air Aorist passive, third singular. Gill notes the Ethiopic adds "and rested there," and that on Harpocration the word means to lie down, sleep and take one's rest. Pulpit adds the political effect: the withdrawal "obviated all danger of a rising in his favour, which, supported by the vast resources of the temple, might have had momentous consequences at this time of popular concourse."
ἐκεῖekei. . .G1563
√ ἐκεῖ — thereAdverb

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The owner arrives: what the aorists do — 21:12

Four aorist indicatives carry the whole scene, and every one of them belongs to Jesus: He entered (εἰσῆλθεν), He cast out (ἐξέβαλεν), He turned upside down (κατέστρεψεν), and in verse 14 He healed. Everyone else in the verse appears only as a present participle, buying, selling, an ongoing trade interrupted by single decisive acts. Benson reads the first verb precisely for what it declines to do: "He did not go up to the court, or to the palace, though he came in as a king; but to the temple." Pulpit says the same from the other side: "In this visit of Christ we see the King coming to his palace." The location is not incidental. Benson, quoting Campbell, insists that the word here is ἱερόν and not naos, and that "it was in the outermost court that this sort of traffic was exercised"; Gill, Poole, Cambridge and Pulpit all name that court the Court of the Gentiles. The market therefore sat in the one precinct Isaiah had promised to the nations. As to how one man emptied it, the commentators differ in emphasis but not in kind: Cambridge credits "a look of divine authority, the enthusiasm of His Galilaean followers, and the consciousness of wrongdoing on the part of the traders, rather than any special exercise of miraculous power"; Barnes lists four reasons, beginning with authority and conscience; Ellicott adds the crowd from Olivet filling the courts. None of them claims a miracle, and the text reports no weapon. Pulpit alone notes that on the earlier occasion in John a scourge of small cords is mentioned, while "at this time he effected the purification unarmed and alone."

ii. The fee on atonement, and who paid it — 21:12

The two trades named are not chosen at random. κολλυβισταί are men of the kollybos, the small coin taken for exchanging currency; Poole describes the mechanism exactly, "men that were furnished with half Shekels to change with the people, that every one might have his half shekel," the payment of Exodus 30:13. Cambridge, citing Lightfoot, holds that "This exaction of the fee was itself unlawful." The second trade is in περιστεράς, doves, which Leviticus 5:7 and 12:8 assign to the worshipper who cannot afford a lamb, and Poole notes that they served "the women that came up to their purification." Gill documents the temple's own bureaucracy of tickets for drink offerings, and Pulpit charges the priests directly: they "let out the sacred area, of which they were the appointed guardians, to greedy and irreligious traders, who made a gain of others' piety." Set the two together and the shape of the offence is arithmetic: the poorest worshipper and the foreign pilgrim paid the most in surcharge to obey the law. Barnes states the result without ornament: they "took advantage of the poor," selling what was needed "at an enormous price."

iii. One perfect passive against one present active — 21:13

The only argument offered for the expulsion is a verb: Γέγραπται, perfect passive, a thing written and still standing. Pulpit: "Jesus confirms his action by the word of Scripture." Ellicott identifies the quotation as "a free combination of two prophetic utterances," Isaiah 56:7 on the Temple's future glory and Jeremiah 7:11 on evils "like in nature, if not in form," to these. Gill adds that the Jewish Targum had already paraphrased Isaiah's line as "the house of my sanctuary shall be called an house of prayer," so the reading is not an innovation. The grammar sets one voice against another: God's house will be called (κληθήσεται, future passive, the Namer unnamed because obvious) what God says, while you are making (ποιεῖτε, present active, and Pulpit notes the better text reads "ye make it") something else, continuously, now. The something else is a σπήλαιον, and Cambridge corrects the English to "a cave of robbers or bandits." Ellicott fills the cave in: brigands in the limestone caverns of Judaea, as David in Adullam, and "the wranglings of such a company over the booty they had carried off were reproduced in the Temple, and mingled with the Hallelujahs of the Levites and the Hosannas of the crowds." Cambridge hears a further note, offered only as possible: a cave in Herod's day meant a rebel stronghold, so "Ye have made my house a stronghold of rebels against God and the Messiah, when it ought to be a garrison of loyal subjects." Gill reads the same word institutionally: the temple "was a sanctuary to them: here they screened themselves."

iv. What comes in when the market goes out — 21:14

Matthew alone records this (Cambridge and Pulpit both note it), and he records it in the same locative phrase as the cleansing, ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ. Gill will not let the geography blur: it is "that part of it, the court of the Gentiles, and mountain of the house, out of which he had cast the buyers and sellers, and in the room of them, were brought in these objects of his pity." Pulpit turns it into a sentence: "the good Physician takes the place of the greedy trafficker; the den of thieves becomes a beneficent hospital," and reads it as a fresh fulfilment of Isaiah 35:4-6. Henry, Gill and Barnes all reach for Haggai 2:9, Henry most compactly: "his healing in the temple was the fulfilling the promise, that the glory of the latter house should be greater than the glory of the former." Two restraints belong here. The verb ἐθεράπευσεν has as its root sense to wait upon menially, so the King who expelled the traders serves the excluded. And Ellicott refuses to overplay the contrast with David's taunt at 2 Samuel 5:8: the Septuagint's "the blind and the lame shall not come into the house of the Lord" is "not in the Hebrew," and "there is no evidence from Jewish writers that the blind and the lame were ever, as a matter of fact, excluded from the Temple." What may legitimately be inferred, he says, is the contrast "between the hasty, passionate words of the conquering king, and the tender compassion of the Son of David."

v. Indignation at the undeniable — 21:15

The men who object are, on Ellicott's and Cambridge's identification, the heads of the twenty-four priestly courses with the high priest; Pulpit adds that they were wealthy, largely Sadducean, and held authority delegated by Rome. They are, then, the beneficiaries of the trade just ended. What they saw is called θαυμάσια, a word Pulpit notes is "found nowhere else in the New Testament," and what they felt is ἠγανάκτησαν, which Benson renders "inwardly vexed and filled with indignation" and Gill tracks through the Persic, Arabic and Ethiopic versions. Benson's analysis of the reaction is the sharpest sentence in the brief: "if they had any sense, they could not but own the miracle of them; and if any good-nature, they could not but be in love with the mercy of them; yet, because they were resolved to oppose him, even for these works they envied and hated him." Geneva generalizes it: "Those that should be masters of godliness are the ones that envy most the glory of Christ: but in vain." The praise itself comes from παῖδας, boys, whom Gill shows were already trained to say Hosanna at Tabernacles when they could shake the Lulab, so the form was familiar; what was not familiar, he says, was crying it to Jesus as David's son. Cambridge judges them "unconscious of all that their words meant," which is his inference, not the text's. Barnes reports what Mark and Luke add: from this envy the plot to kill Him proceeds.

vi. The readers who never read, and the mouths that cannot speak — 21:16

Their question is one word of hearing, Ἀκούεις, and Ellicott reads it as asking "whether He accepted them in the sense in which they were addressed to Him." The answer is one particle, Ναί; Gill: He "well approved of what they said, and was ready to vindicate it." Then the counter-question, which Ellicott shows is a formula Jesus reserves for the scribes (Matthew 12:3, 12:5, 19:4, 21:42, 22:31), and which "expressed very forcibly the estimate which He formed of their character as interpreters." Two lexical moves decide the argument. He answers their paidas (boys) with νηπίων, which means literally the not-speaking, and adds θηλαζόντων, nurslings: praise from mouths that by definition cannot form words. And the verb is Κατηρτίσω, aorist middle of the word for mending and fitting together, which Geneva glosses "You have made most perfect." On the text itself the sources are candid and divided. Barnes: "The quotation is not made directly from the Hebrew. but from the Greek translation. This, however, should create no difficulty." Cambridge corrects the English toward the Hebrew: "hast thou founded strength." Pulpit thinks the Septuagint "seems to have preserved the original reading," reports Wordsworth's harmonizing ("the strength of the weak is praise") and prefers Nosgen's simpler account. Benson, via Macknight, and Poole both read Psalm 8:2 as a prediction that "from the testimony of such weak persons, the glorious power of Christ should be proclaimed." Gill notes that the psalm's next line is "because of thine enemies, that thou might still the enemy," and that the Zohar itself says babes and sucklings "shall give strength to the king Messiah."

vii. Left behind, lodged outside — 21:17

The unit ends as it began, with a verb of motion, and the two frame it: εἰσῆλθεν into the sacred place, ἐξῆλθεν outside the city. The participle governing the exit is καταλιπὼν, to leave down or forsake. Benson finds both prudence and justice in it, "because they had forfeited the favour of his presence: he left them as incorrigible"; Geneva makes it doctrine, "Christ does in this way forsake the wicked, for he has a consideration and regard for his Church"; Pulpit notes the practical effect, that the withdrawal "obviated all danger of a rising in his favour." Where He goes is named with one contested word. Cambridge offers "House of dates, or, according to Caspari, Place of shops, or merchant tents"; Gill records the ancient "house of obedience" and the variant "house of affliction" and preaches from the first. Strong's own gloss is date-house. Pulpit is honest about the last verb too: ηὐλίσθη strictly means to pass the night in the open air, "but it may mean merely lodge ... so no certain inference can be drawn." Ellicott supplies the human note the Synoptics withhold: "There He found in the house of the friends who were dear to Him the rest and peace which He could not find in the crowded city," and reads their anonymity in the first three Gospels as deliberate protection.

viii. One cleansing or two: how the sources disagree — 21:12-17

The brief preserves a real dispute and we do not resolve it. On the day: Ellicott, Barnes, Cambridge and Pulpit all follow Mark 11:11 in placing the cleansing on the morning after the entry, Ellicott noting that Matthew groups by design and Pulpit that he arranges "in a certain logical sequence which corresponded with his design." Poole reports the opposite judgment of others, that "the best interpreters think that it was done the first day, as Matthew and Luke seem to hint," and Barnes suggests the purification may have been begun on one day and finished on the next. On the number: John 2:13-25 records an act of the same kind at the start of the ministry. Ellicott meets the critics who deny a repetition head on and accepts both accounts, arguing that a suppressed abuse reappearing invites a renewed protest, and admitting the difficulty candidly: "There is, it cannot be concealed, a real difficulty in the omission of the earlier cleansing by the Three, and in the absence of any reference to the later cleansing by the Fourth." Benson, Henry, Cambridge and Pulpit all treat this as the second cleansing. That is the majority of the voices in this brief, not a proof.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ A machine reading, offered to be tested. The unit is built on one reversal, and the reversal is about access. Twice the narrator plants the same locative phrase, ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, and the two things that happen in that one spot are an expulsion and a healing. What is expelled is a system that charged the poor and the foreigner a fee to obey the law: the half shekel exchange and the dove stall, which by Leviticus 5:7 and 12:8 is the poor person's offering. What is admitted is the blind and the lame, who according to Ellicott and Gill had always sat begging at the approaches and never come in. So the sentence He quotes has two halves that match the two acts: "a house of prayer" describes what He makes the court into by healing in it, and "a cavern of brigands" describes what He empties out of it. If Isaiah's line is read whole, as Mark quotes it and Gill insists, the promise was for all nations, which is precisely the court that had been rented out. On this reading the cleansing is not first about reverence for furniture; it is about clearing the only room the outsider had.

Then the argument moves to who is competent to say who He is. The priests use the word paidas, boys, and He answers with νηπίων, the not-speaking, and θηλαζόντων, still nursing. The professional readers are asked whether they ever read; the speechless are said to have had praise fitted together for God, Κατηρτίσω, the verb for mending. The same pattern governs the healings: Pulpit notices that He first cleared His house and then served in it, and the verb for that service, ἐθεράπευσεν, has the root sense of waiting on someone menially. Note also the small lexical mercy the Verifier turns up: αἶνος, the rare word for praise He uses in verse 16, occurs in only one other verse, Luke 18:43, where a blind man receives his sight and the people give praise. We do not claim Matthew intended a cross-reference. We do observe that the praise He defends and the healing of blindness He has just performed share a word found almost nowhere else. And we hold the honest gap: the psalm He quotes says strength in Hebrew and praise in Greek, and no source in this brief settles which stood first.

The first thing the King does in His own house is not to receive, but to remove; and what He removes is the fee on the poor person's approach.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The written word behind the act: Isaiah's house of prayer and Jeremiah's cave of robbers structural / thematic: confirmed

Verse 13 is explicit: Γέγραπται, and then two prophets. Ellicott names them as "a free combination of two prophetic utterances," Isaiah 56:7 on the Temple visited by Jew and Gentile, and Jeremiah 7:11 on evils "like in nature, if not in form." Barnes observes that only the first half is Isaiah's, "the rest ... was added by Jesus." Cambridge quotes Jeremiah's surrounding demand not to shed innocent blood in that place and calls the context "strikingly suggestive." Gill notes the Targum of Isaiah 56:7 already read the verse of the sanctuary as a house of prayer, and that Mark keeps Isaiah's "for all nations," which is the precinct in question.

Isaiah 56:7 · Jeremiah 7:11

basis: The citation is explicit in the text ("It is written"), but the link is cross-Testament, Greek quoting Hebrew Scripture, so no shared Strong's lexeme can be computed and the verbal tier is unavailable here. Basis is the stated quotation formula plus the named prophetic sources (Ellicott, Barnes, Cambridge, Pulpit, Gill all identify Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11).

Psalm 8:2, and the word that changes between Hebrew and Greek structural / thematic: confirmed

Verse 16 quotes Psalm 8:2 with "Have you never read." The sources agree on the reference and disagree on the wording. Barnes: "The quotation is not made directly from the Hebrew. but from the Greek translation." Cambridge renders the Hebrew, "hast thou founded strength," and reads the psalm's opening as the glory of God in His works, on which "God builds a stronghold against His adversaries." Pulpit calls Psalm 8 "the confessedly Messianic psalm" and thinks the Septuagint "seems to have preserved the original reading." Geneva harmonizes by definition, that what is most perfect is stable and sure. Gill notes the psalm's next clause about stilling the enemy, and that the Zohar itself applies babes and sucklings to the king Messiah.

Psalm 8:2

basis: Explicit citation in the text, but cross-Testament (Greek NT quoting a Hebrew psalm through the Septuagint), so no shared Strong's lexeme is computable and the verbal tier is unavailable. Recorded basis: the quotation formula plus the Septuagint wording, with the acknowledged divergence between Masoretic ʻoz (strength) and Greek G136 ainos (praise) noted by Barnes, Cambridge and Pulpit.

The cavern of brigands: the rare word in the other two Synoptics verbal / quotation: confirmed

Both other Synoptic accounts of the cleansing carry the same rare pair of nouns. The Verifier computes for Mark 11:17 and Luke 19:46 the shared lexemes G3624 οἶκος, G3027 λῃστής and G4693 σπήλαιον, the last of these found in only six verses of the New Testament. This is the one place in the unit where a genuine verbal identity can be measured rather than asserted, and it measures the synoptic tradition of the saying, not a fresh allusion. Poole prints Mark's and Luke's wording side by side, showing where each abbreviates.

Mark 11:17 · Luke 19:46

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4693 σπήλαιον (in 6 vv, rare) and G3027 λῃστής (in 15 vv), with G3624 οἶκος (in 105 vv). Greek to Greek, rare lexeme present, so the verbal tier is available; the link is synoptic parallel wording of the same saying.

The same hands, the same tables: Mark 11:15 and John 2:14-15 verbal / quotation: confirmed

The Verifier finds Matthew's verse 12 sharing with Mark 11:15 and John 2:15 the lexemes G2411 ἱερόν, G1544 ἐκβάλλω and G5132 τράπεζα, and with John 2:14 also G4058 περιστερά and G4453 πωλέω. The lexical link is measurable; what it means is disputed. Ellicott holds that both Johannine and Synoptic accounts may stand as true, that a suppressed abuse would reappear and be met again, and admits "a real difficulty" in each Gospel's silence about the other occasion. Benson simply says "He had cast them out three years before, (John 2:14,) ... upon the repetition of the offence, he uses sharper words." Cambridge and Pulpit both label the present event the second cleansing.

Mark 11:15 · John 2:14 · John 2:15

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G5132 τράπεζα (in 14 vv, uncommon), G1544 ἐκβάλλω (in 75 vv), G2411 ἱερόν (in 67 vv), plus G4058 περιστερά (in 10 vv) and G4453 πωλέω (in 20 vv) with John 2:14. Greek to Greek verbal link in the narration; the tier certifies the shared vocabulary only, not the contested question of one cleansing or two.

Hosanna carried from the road into the courts verbal / quotation: confirmed

The cry the children raise indoors is the cry of the entry procession. The Verifier records G5614 ὡσαννά, an untranslated Hebrew word appearing in only five verses of the New Testament, shared with Matthew 21:9, Mark 11:9-10 and John 12:13, and with it G1138 Δαυίδ and G2896 κράζω. Cambridge says the children "caught the familiar feast-day strain from the Galilaean pilgrims"; Gill notes that children already sang Hosanna at Tabernacles when they could carry the Lulab, but that crying it to Jesus as David's son "was very extraordinary." Since Hosanna means "oh save," the cry is itself a prayer, offered in the precinct just declared a house of prayer.

Matthew 21:9 · Mark 11:9 · Mark 11:10 · John 12:13

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G5614 ὡσαννά (in 5 vv, rare), with G1138 Δαβίδ (in 54 vv), G5207 υἱός (in 344 vv) and G2896 κράζω (in 54 vv). Greek to Greek, rare lexeme present.

The seats He overturned and the seat He indicted structural / thematic: confirmed

καθέδρα (G2515) is a rare noun, in three verses only, and the Verifier finds one of the others two chapters later: the seat of Moses in which the scribes sit (Matthew 23:2), where the same passage also shares G1122 γραμματεύς with our verse 15. ⚙ We note the coincidence of vocabulary and do not claim Matthew built on it: the seats of the dove sellers are literally overturned in the court, and the seat of authority occupied by the scribes is afterwards indicted from within the same temple. The link is lexical and thematic; no source in this brief draws it.

Matthew 23:2

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G2515 καθέδρα (in 3 vv, rare) and G1122 γραμματεύς (in 63 vv). The rare lexeme is real and Greek to Greek, but there is no quotation and no source in the brief asserts the connection, so we hold the tier at structural rather than verbal.

The only other verse with this word for praise, and a blind man in it structural / thematic: confirmed

αἶνος (G136) occurs in two verses of the New Testament. One is verse 16, where Jesus defends the children's cry. The Verifier finds the other at Luke 18:43, where a blind man receives his sight, follows glorifying God, and all the people give praise. ⚙ In this unit the blind are healed in the temple (v. 14) and then praise is vindicated from the mouths of infants (v. 16), so the two halves of Luke's single verse stand two verses apart in Matthew. We do not claim literary dependence. The shared lexeme is as rare as lexemes get, and the coincidence is worth recording as a resonance, nothing more.

Luke 18:43

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G136 αἶνος (in 2 vv, the rarest link in this unit). Greek to Greek, so a verbal tier would be technically available, but there is no quotation, no citation formula and no source in the brief drawing the link, so we under-claim and record it as thematic resonance on a rare shared lexeme.

The half shekel and the sanctuary standard structural / thematic: confirmed

The tables He upends existed to supply the half shekel of Exodus 30:13-16, payable in sanctuary coin, the standard fixed again at Leviticus 27:25. Poole describes the arrangement: changers "furnished with half Shekels to change with the people, that every one might have his half shekel," the profit on the exchange being the kollybos from which the changers took their name. Gill documents the annual proclamation on the first of Adar and the obligation on every man in Israel. Cambridge, citing Lightfoot, judges the fee itself unlawful. So the mechanism served a real command, and the offence lay in the surcharge attached to obeying it.

Exodus 30:13 · Exodus 30:16 · Leviticus 27:25

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek narrative, Hebrew law), so no shared Strong's lexeme can be computed and the verbal tier is unavailable. Recorded basis: the institution named by the noun G2855 κολλυβιστής, identified with the Exodus half shekel by Poole, Gill and Cambridge.

The doves were the poor person's lamb structural / thematic: confirmed

The last commodity named in verse 12 is doves, περιστεράς. Leviticus 5:7 allows two turtledoves or two young pigeons for the sin offering of one who cannot afford a lamb, and Leviticus 12:8 the same for the purification of a mother who is poor. Poole says plainly that the dove sellers were there "to furnish the women that came up to their purification with their offerings, according to the law, Leviticus 12:6"; Cambridge points to Luke 2:24, where Mary brings exactly that offering. ⚙ The seats overturned were therefore the stalls that priced the cheapest sacrifice in the law, which is why Barnes's charge of taking advantage of the poor is not rhetoric.

Leviticus 5:7 · Leviticus 12:8 · Luke 2:24

basis: Cross-Testament for the Leviticus half of the link, so no shared Strong's lexeme is computable and the verbal tier is unavailable. Basis: the noun G4058 περιστερά (in 10 vv) plus the Levitical provision for the poor, connected by Poole (Leviticus 12:6) and Cambridge (Luke 2:24).

The Lord who comes suddenly to His temple to purify it typological

Malachi 3:1-3 promises that the Lord will come suddenly to His temple and purify the sons of Levi; Zechariah 14:21 ends with the promise that there will no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD. Pulpit makes the connection explicitly: "the Lord, according to the prophecy of Malachi (Malachi 3:1-3), had suddenly come to his temple to refine and purify." Gill and Henry both add Haggai 2:7-9 on the greater glory of the latter house, Henry referring the fulfilment to the healings rather than the building. ⚙ Zechariah's trader is not quoted by any voice in this brief; we add it as an evident thematic contact, tiered accordingly.

Malachi 3:1 · Malachi 3:2 · Malachi 3:3 · Zechariah 14:21 · Haggai 2:9

basis: Cross-Testament figural reading, so the verbal tier is unavailable and no shared Strong's lexeme can be computed. Ancient and widely held for Malachi 3 (Pulpit states it) and for Haggai 2:9 (Henry, Gill, Barnes); the Zechariah 14:21 contact is our own addition from the text's subject matter and is not attested by any voice in this brief.

The blind and the lame in the house of the LORD flagged: verify source

At the taking of Jerusalem David is answered with a taunt about the blind and the lame, and 2 Samuel 5:8 preserves a hard proverb about them. Ellicott raises the link and then restrains it: the Septuagint form, "The blind and the lame shall not come into the house of the Lord," has words "not in the Hebrew," most commentators read the proverb quite differently, "and there is no evidence from Jewish writers that the blind and the lame were ever, as a matter of fact, excluded from the Temple." What he allows is the contrast "between the hasty, passionate words of the conquering king, and the tender compassion of the Son of David." Pulpit instead reads verse 14 as fulfilling Isaiah 35:4-6, where God comes and the blind see and the lame leap.

2 Samuel 5:6 · 2 Samuel 5:8 · Isaiah 35:5 · Isaiah 35:6

basis: Cross-Testament, so no shared lexeme is computable, and the specific claim that the blind and lame were barred from the Temple rests on a Septuagint plus that Ellicott says is absent from the Hebrew, with no supporting Jewish evidence. The Isaiah 35 half (Pulpit) is sound as a thematic fulfilment; the 2 Samuel 5:8 exclusion premise is contested and is flagged for that reason.

Nurslings elsewhere in Matthew: the same rare word, the opposite scene structural / thematic: confirmed

θηλάζω (G2337) stands in five verses. The Verifier lists them: here, and then Matthew 24:19, Mark 13:17 and Luke 21:23, where woe is pronounced on nursing mothers in the days of judgment, and Luke 11:27, where a woman blesses the breasts that nursed Jesus. ⚙ So the one word for helpless dependence appears in this unit as the source of perfected praise and, three chapters later in the same Gospel, as the measure of coming distress on the city He is about to leave. No source in this brief connects them, and we make no claim of authorial design.

Matthew 24:19 · Luke 11:27

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2337 θηλάζω (in 5 vv, rare). Greek to Greek and rare, but the motif is different in each place and there is no quotation or allusion, so the honest tier is thematic on a shared rare lexeme, not verbal.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The owner of the house, coming suddenly to it ancient/widely-held

Every verb of authority in verse 12 is His and singular, and the possessive in verse 13 is decisive: the house of Me. Gill reads the entry exactly so: "he went to the house of his heavenly Father, as the lord and proprietor of it, to preach in it, and purge it," and finds prophecy fulfilled in it (Haggai 2:7). Pulpit names the prophecy that most nearly fits the shape of the act: "the Lord, according to the prophecy of Malachi (Malachi 3:1-3), had suddenly come to his temple to refine and purify." Henry adds the mercy as the proof: "his healing in the temple was the fulfilling the promise, that the glory of the latter house should be greater than the glory of the former." Benson holds the same claim with a caution worth keeping: He came as a king, but "his kingdom is spiritual, and not of this world. It is in holy things that he rules." The reading that the Lord of the temple has come to His own temple is stated by Gill, Pulpit, Henry and Benson alike.

Malachi 3:1 · Malachi 3:2 · Malachi 3:3 · Haggai 2:9 · Isaiah 56:7

He receives what the psalm gives to the LORD ancient/widely-held

Psalm 8:2 is addressed to Yahweh: it is God whose praise is fitted together out of infant mouths. In verse 16 Jesus answers a charge that He is accepting messianic homage by quoting that verse as the vindication of homage offered to Him. Pulpit sees the move plainly: the words were "originally, indeed, applied to Jehovah, but one which he claims as addressed to himself," and he lists the psalm's other New Testament uses of Christ. Benson, through Macknight, reads the psalm as showing "that as the Father does not refuse the praise which arises from the least of his creatures, so the Son did not disdain the praise which was offered him by children." Gill notes the psalm's own reason, "because of thine enemies, that thou might still the enemy," and observes that the Jewish sources themselves felt the messianic force, the Zohar saying that babes and sucklings "shall give strength to the king Messiah." ⚙ The single particle Ναί is therefore the christological centre of the unit: asked whether He hears Himself called Son of David in the temple, He says yes, and defends it from a psalm about God.

Psalm 8:2 · Matthew 21:15 · Hebrews 2:6

The cleansed house and the house He is ancient/widely-held

Ellicott notices that the second cleansing would "revive the memory of the first," and with it the words John records and the Three do not, words which "served as the basis of the charge that He had threatened to destroy the Temple (John 2:20-21; Matthew 26:61; Mark 14:58)." John's own gloss on those words is that He spoke of the temple of His body. ⚙ Read forward from that, the sequence in this unit is the sequence of the passion in miniature: the sanctuary is purged, the excluded are received into it, the authorities who profit from it take offence, and within days the charge built on temple language is laid against Him. The house He cleared stood a generation; the house He was, raised in three days, is the one Isaiah's promise finally fits, since prayer there is open to all nations without a changer's fee.

John 2:19 · John 2:20 · John 2:21 · Matthew 26:61

The Son of David who lets the blind and the lame in novel

⚙ A reading offered more tentatively. Verse 14 puts the blind and the lame inside the cleared court, and Ellicott, while dismantling the claim that they had been formally barred, still permits the contrast "between the hasty, passionate words of the conquering king, and the tender compassion of the Son of David, to whom the blind and the lame were objects, not of antipathy, but pity." Pulpit reads the same verse as a fresh fulfilment of Isaiah 35:4-6, God coming to open blind eyes and make the lame leap, and says "the good Physician takes the place of the greedy trafficker." Gill notices the exchange of occupants: in the room of the traders "were brought in these objects of his pity." Putting those together, the King's first act of government in His own house is to trade a market for a hospital and to admit the people least able to pay. The redemptive shape is real; the sharper version, that He reverses an exclusion decreed at 2 Samuel 5:8, depends on a Septuagint plus Ellicott says is not in the Hebrew, so we mark this reading as ours and not the tradition's.

Matthew 21:14 · Isaiah 35:5 · Isaiah 35:6 · 2 Samuel 5:8

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. Two variants inside this unit are reported by the sources. At verse 13 Pulpit notes that the Revised Version and "many modern editors on good manuscript authority" read the present "ye make it" rather than the perfect "ye have made it"; the BSB's "you are making" agrees with that reading, and the interlinear parse (ποιεῖτε, present indicative active) supports it. At verse 16 the quotation follows the Septuagint of Psalm 8:2 with αἶνον, praise, where the Masoretic text reads ʻoz, strength. Barnes, Cambridge, Geneva and Pulpit all register the difference and reach different conclusions (Pulpit thinks the Septuagint may preserve the original; Cambridge translates the Hebrew; Geneva harmonizes by definition). We record the divergence and do not resolve it.

Chronology. Whether this cleansing occurred on the day of the entry or the morning after is disputed in the brief itself: Ellicott, Barnes, Cambridge and Pulpit follow Mark 11:11 for the following day, while Poole reports that "the best interpreters think that it was done the first day, as Matthew and Luke seem to hint." Whether there were two cleansings or one displaced account is likewise contested; Ellicott defends two and openly concedes "a real difficulty" in the Gospels' mutual silence. Nothing in our synthesis depends on either question being settled.

Cross-references. Every verbal tier in this unit rests on Verifier-computed shared Greek lexemes and links Greek to Greek only. The four Old Testament contacts that the text itself makes explicit (Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11 at verse 13, Psalm 8:2 at verse 16) cannot be tiered verbal, because a shared Strong's number cannot exist across the two Testaments; they are tiered structural with the citation formula as the recorded basis. The 2 Samuel 5 thread is flagged because its premise, the exclusion of the blind and lame from the Temple, rests on a Septuagint reading Ellicott says is absent from the Hebrew and unsupported by Jewish sources. The Zechariah 14:21 contact inside the Malachi thread is our own addition, not drawn from any voice here.

Sources. JFB carries no exposition at any verse in this unit, referring the reader to Luke 19:45-48 and Mark 11:12-26; Poole is a cross-reference stub at verses 15, 16 and 17, and Geneva at verses 12, 13 and 14 reprints the verse with no gloss. Four entries in the brief are capped (Ellicott, Barnes, Gill and Pulpit at verse 12; Poole at verses 12-14) and we quote only from the text supplied. Several commentators cite authorities at second hand: Benson relies on Campbell for the hieron and naos distinction and on Doddridge and Macknight elsewhere, Cambridge on Lightfoot, Caspari and Josephus, Gill on the Talmud, Zohar, Jerome and Origen, Pulpit on Lange, Wordsworth and Nosgen. Those attributions are theirs, not ours, and we have not verified them.

Our layer. The ⚙ material here that no source states includes: the observation that the rare noun καθέδρα recurs at Matthew 23:2, the observation that αἶνος occurs elsewhere only at Luke 18:43 alongside a healing of blindness, the θηλάζω comparison with Matthew 24:19, the reading of the two ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ clauses as a deliberate frame, and the passion-shaped reading in the third Christ entry. Each of these is a machine inference, fallible, and offered to be tested. Interlinear surfaces, parses, Strong's numbers, lexeme frequencies and every quoted sentence come from the brief.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)