Text -- Luke 19:43-48 (NET)

19:43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. 19:44 They will demolish you– you and your children within your walls– and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

Cleansing the Temple

19:45 Then Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were selling things there, 19:46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of robbers!” 19:47 Jesus was teaching daily in the temple courts. The chief priests and the experts in the law and the prominent leaders among the people were seeking to assassinate him, 19:48 but they could not find a way to do it, for all the people hung on his words.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Luk 19:43

¹ sn Jesus now predicted the events that would be fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. The details of the siege have led some to see Luke writing this after Jerusalem’s fall, but the language of the verse is like God’s exilic judgment for covenant unfaithfulness (Hab 2:8; Jer 6:6, 14; 8:13-22; 9:1; Ezek 4:2; 26:8; Isa 29:1-4). Specific details are lacking and the procedures described (build an embankment against you) were standard Roman military tactics.

² sn An embankment refers to either wooden barricades or earthworks, or a combination of the two.

NET Notes: Luk 19:44

¹ tn Grk “They will raze you to the ground.”

sn The singular pronoun you refers to the city of Jerusalem personified.

² tn Grk “your children within you.” The phrase “[your] walls” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the city of Jerusalem, metaphorically pictured as an individual, is spoken of here.

³ sn (Not) one stone on top of another is an idiom for total destruction.

⁴ tn Grk “leave stone on stone.”

⁵ tn Grk “the time of your visitation.” To clarify what this refers to, the words “from God” are supplied at the end of the verse, although they do not occur in the Greek text.

sn You did not recognize the time of your visitation refers to the time God came to visit them. They had missed the Messiah; see Luke 1:68-79.

NET Notes: Luk 19:45

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

² tn Grk “he.”

³ tn Grk “the temple” (also in v. 47).

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

⁴ sn Matthew (21:12-27), Mark (11:15-19) and Luke (here, 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.

NET Notes: Luk 19:46

¹ sn A quotation from Isa 56:7.

² tn Or “a hideout” (see L&N 1.57).

³ 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.

NET Notes: Luk 19:47

¹ tn Grk “And he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² tn Grk “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

³ tn Grk “to destroy.”

sn The action at the temple was the last straw. In their view, if Jesus could cause trouble in the holy place, then he must be stopped, so the leaders were seeking to assassinate him.

NET Notes: Luk 19:48

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

² tn Grk “they did not find the thing that they might do.”

³ sn All the people hung on his words is an idiom for intent, eager listening. Jesus’ popularity and support made it unwise for the leadership to seize him.