John 2:15-19

2:15 So he made a whip of cords ¹  and drove them all out of the temple courts, ²  with the sheep and the oxen. He scattered the coins of the money changers ³  and overturned their tables. 2:16 To those who sold the doves he said, “Take these things away from here! Do not make ⁴  my Father’s house a marketplace!” ⁵  2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal ⁶  for your house will devour me.” ⁷ 

2:18 So then the Jewish leaders ⁸  responded, ⁹  “What sign can you show us, since you are doing these things?” ¹⁰  2:19 Jesus replied, ¹¹  “Destroy ¹²  this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.”

[2:15]  ¹ tc Several witnesses, two of which are quite ancient (Ì^66,75 L N ˹ 33 565 892 1241 al lat), have ὡς (Jws, “like”) before φραγέλλιον (fragellion, “whip”). A decision based on external evidence would be difficult to make because the shorter reading also has excellent witnesses, as well as the majority, on its side (א A B Θ Ψ Ë¹³ Ï co). Internal evidence, though, leans toward the shorter reading. Scribes tended to add to the text, and the addition of ὡς here clearly softens the assertion of the evangelist: Instead of making a whip of cords, Jesus made “[something] like a whip of cords.”

[2:15]  ² tn Grk “the temple.”

[2:15]  ³ sn Because of the imperial Roman portraits they carried, Roman denarii and Attic drachmas were not permitted to be used in paying the half-shekel temple-tax (the Jews considered the portraits idolatrous). The money changers exchanged these coins for legal Tyrian coinage at a small profit.

[2:16]  ⁴ tn Or (perhaps) “Stop making.”

[2:16]  ⁵ tn Or “a house of merchants” (an allusion to Zech 14:21).

[2:17]  ⁶ tn Or “Fervent devotion to your house.”

[2:17]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Ps 69:9.

[2:18]  ⁸ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. Here the author refers to the authorities or leaders in Jerusalem. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.)

[2:18]  ⁹ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[2:18]  ¹⁰ sn The request “What sign can you show us” by Jesus’ adversaries was a request for a defense of his actions – a mark of divine authentication. Whether this was a request for a miracle is not entirely clear. Jesus never obliged such a request. Yet, ironically, the only sign the Jewish leadership will get is that predicted by Jesus in 2:19 – his crucifixion and resurrection. Cf. the “sign of Jonah” in the synoptics (Matt 12:39, 40; Luke 11:29-32).

[2:19]  ¹¹ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

[2:19]  ¹² tn The imperative here is really more than a simple conditional imperative (= “if you destroy”); its semantic force here is more like the ironical imperative found in the prophets (Amos 4:4, Isa 8:9) = “Go ahead and do this and see what happens.”