Matthew 21:12-22

Cleansing the Temple

21:12 Then ¹  Jesus entered the temple area ²  and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts, ³  and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. 21:13 And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ ⁴  but you are turning it into a den ⁵  of robbers!” ⁶ 

21:14 The blind and lame came to him in the temple courts, and he healed them. 21:15 But when the chief priests and the experts in the law ⁷  saw the wonderful things he did and heard the children crying out in the temple courts, ⁸  “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant 21:16 and said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of children and nursing infants you have prepared praise for yourself’?” ⁹  21:17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

The Withered Fig Tree

21:18 Now early in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry. 21:19 After noticing a fig tree ¹⁰  by the road he went to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, “Never again will there be fruit from you!” And the fig tree withered at once. 21:20 When the disciples saw it they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” 21:21 Jesus ¹¹  answered them, “I tell you the truth, ¹²  if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, if you believe, ¹³  you will receive.”

[21:12]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[21:12]  ² tn Grk “the temple.”

[21:12]  ³ tn Grk “the temple.”

[21:13]  ⁴ sn A quotation from Isa 56:7.

[21:13]  ⁵ tn Or “a hideout” (see L&N 1.57).

[21:13]  ⁶ 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.

[21:15]  ⁷ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[21:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “crying out in the temple [courts] and saying.” The participle λέγοντας (legontas) is somewhat redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[21:16]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 8:2.

[21:19]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “one fig tree.”

[21:21]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

[21:21]  ¹² tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[21:22]  ¹³ tn Grk “believing”; the participle here is conditional.