Matthew 21:13

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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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
said	λέγει legei	G3004	properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
them	αὐτοῖς· autois	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative plural masculine
It is written	γέγραπται· gegraptai	G1125	to "grave" · verb — perfect passive indicative, 3rd person singular
My	μοῦ moû	G3450	of me
house	οἶκός oikos	G3624	a dwelling (more or less extensive · noun — nominative singular masculine
shall be called	κληθήσεται, klēthēsetai	G2564	to "call" (properly · verb — future passive indicative, 3rd person singular
the house	οἶκος oikos	G3624	a dwelling (more or less extensive · noun — nominative singular masculine
of prayer	προσευχῆς proseuchēs	G4335	prayer (worship) · noun — genitive singular feminine
but	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
ye	ὑμεῖς hymeîs	G5210	you (as subjective of verb)
have made	ποιεῖτε poieite	G4160	to make or do (in a very wide application · verb — present active indicative, 2nd person plural
it	αὐτὸν auton	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular masculine
a den	σπήλαιον spēlaion	G4693	a cavern · noun — accusative singular neuter
of thieves	λῃστῶν. lēstōn	G3027	a brigand · noun — genitive plural masculine

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Jeremiah 7:11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 56:7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be…
Luke 19:46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Mark 11:17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den o…
Psalms 93:5 Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, for ever.
John 15:25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
Matthew 2:5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

John Gill on Matthew 21:13

And said unto them, it is written,.... In Isaiah 56:7. My house shall be called the house of prayer. These are the, words of God, calling the temple his house, which was built according to the plan he gave; and was the place of his worship, and where he dwelt, and vouchsafed his presence to his people; and signifying, that in time to come, it should be an house of prayer; not for the Jews only, but for the Gentiles also: "for all people", as it is expressed by the prophet, and cited by Mark; and particularly this part of it, in which were the money changers and sellers of doves; for that was the court of the Gentiles, where they were admitted to pray, and perform other parts of worship. The…

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John Calvin on Matthew 21:10-22

Matthew 21:10-22 Matthew 21:10-22 Mark 11:11-24 Luke 19:39-48 10. And when he entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying, Who is this? 11. And the multitudes said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth in Galilee. 12. And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and drove out all that sold and bought in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold doves; 13. And said to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers. 14. And the blind and lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. 15. When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful works which he did, and th…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 21:13

Jesus’ actions were justified, because God’s glory was being desecrated through financial exploitation.

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

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.
— Tertullian, On Modesty

(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.
— Augustine of Hippo ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

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.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 39

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Den — A lair of wild beasts (Ps. 10:9; 104:22; Job 37:8); the hole of a venomous reptile (Isa. 11:8); a recess for secrecy “in dens and caves of the earth” (Heb. 11:38); a resort of thieves (Matt. 21:13;…
Temple — First used of the tabernacle, which is called “the temple of the Lord” (1 Sam. 1:9). In the New Testament the word is used figuratively of Christ’s human body (John 2:19, 21). Believers are called…
Caves · Were used as: Haunts of robbers — Were used as: Haunts of robbers
House Of God · A place of prayer — A place of prayer
Quotations And Allusions · with — with
Reproof · On account of: Sinful practices — On account of: Sinful practices
Sacrilege · .Of the money-exchangers in the temple — .Of the money-exchangers in the temple
Temple · .HOUSE OF PRAYER — .HOUSE OF PRAYER
Temple, The First · Appointed as a house of prayer — Appointed as a house of prayer
Temple, The Second · Christ: Purified, at the close of his ministry — Christ: Purified, at the close of his ministry
Theft And Thieves · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).