saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”
Parallel Translations
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saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”
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sayinge vnto them that is written: my housse is the housse of prayer: but ye have made it a den of theves.
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Saying vnto them, It is written, Mine house is the house of prayer, but ye haue made it a denne of theeues.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Luke 19:46 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 56:7 I will bring these to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
- Jeremiah 7:11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says Yahweh.
- Psalms 93:5 Your statutes stand firm. Holiness adorns your house, Yahweh, forever more.
- Ezekiel 43:12 “This is the law of the house. On the top of the mountain the whole limit around it shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
- Matthew 23:13 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
- Hosea 12:7 A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand. He loves to defraud.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (5 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house…
46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Ver. 46. See Mat 21:12-13, &c.; {See Trapp on "Joh 2:14"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And could not find what they might do,.... The…
And could not find what they might do,.... The Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, and so Beza's most ancient copy, add, "to him"; they could not find an opportunity of seizing him, nor any advantage against him; they knew not what steps to take, nor how to bring about their wicked design of destroying him.
For all the people were very attentive to hear him; there were great crowds always about him, that hung upon him, as the word rendered "attentive" signifies; they heard him with great eagerness and diligence, and were ready to catch every word that dropped from his lips; and were exceedingly taken with him, having never heard any man speak like him: wherefore having so many followers, and being so high in the opinion and affection of the people, the sanhedrim were at a loss what method to make use of to gain their point; and they feared the people, should they seize him publicly, lest they should rise and rescue him, and cause a tumult and disturbance.
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John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Isaiah lvi, 7.
Isaiah lvi, 7.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 46. My house is the house of prayer] Isa_56:7.…
46. My house is the house of prayer] Isa_56:7. See on Luk_1:10, Luk_18:10.
a den of thieves] Rather, a brigands’ cave. Our Lord had seen many of these brigands’ caves on the steep rocky sides of the Wady Hamam and elsewhere. Comp. Jer_7:11, “Is this house which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes?” It became still more a murderers’ cave when the sicarii made its pavement swim with blood (Jos. B. J. iv. 3, §§ 7, 10).
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The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The house of prayer.
The house of prayer.
The strong indignation of our Lord shown on this occasion is a plain indication of the importance he attached to right thought concerning the sanctuary, and to the right use of it. He brought into prominence the act of prayer as that which should, above all things, characterize the house of God. We enter into his thought if we consider
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I THE SENSE IN WHICH SACRIFICE WAS PRAYER. The temple existed primarily and pre-eminently for sacrifice. There, and there alone, might sacrifices be offered to the Lord. It was the one place in all the land where the sin offerings and the burnt offerings could be presented. Was it not, then, essentially, the place of sacrifice? Truly; but sacrifice, when rightly viewed, was a form of prayer. In it and by it the offerer drew near, consciously, to the loving God; in it he made confession of sin to God; in it he made acknowledgment of his continual indebtedness to God; in it he supplicated the mercy and the grace of God. But this is prayer; it is prayer in the form of offering rather than in words. Less than this this conscious approach, this confession, thanksgiving, and supplication is not prayer at all. Inasmuch, then, as the temple was the place of sacrifice, it was the place of prayer.
II THE FACT THAT THERE WAS ROOM IN THE TEMPLE FOR PRAYER AS WE ORDINARILY UNDERSTAND IT. We gather from our Lord"s own words that the temple was the place commonly chosen by the people for the offering of prayer. (Luk_18:10) It was toward the temple that the exiled Jews looked when they knelt down to pray in distant lands; and it was in the temple that they stood to pray when that sacred building was within reach. It was, no doubt, regarded as of all places in the world the very fittest in which to realize the presence of Jehovah, and to spread forth the soul"s desires and aspirations before him. There were many places for prayer, but that was the place of prayer.
III THE PLACE OF PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN SANCTUARY. By what, above all things else, should the Christian sanctuary be characterized?
1. It should be the place of common assembly. Where all classes of the people meet together, the rich and the poor, and feel that the Lord is the Maker of them all; (Pro_22:2) where the learned and the unlearned worship and bow down together, and "kneel before the Lord their Maker"; (Psa_95:6) it is the place where human spirits meet, and where earthly circumstances are of no account whatever where wealth does not weigh, and rank creates no distinction.
2. It should be the place of spiritual enlightenment.
(1) Where the Word of God is read, and should be read (as it may be) impressively and effectually; for there is nothing in literature which is more fitted to attract and interest a miscellaneous assembly;
(2) where the will of God is faithfully delivered, and the gospel of Christ expounded and enforced;
(3) where the cause of the Master and of mankind is fully and earnestly pleaded. But most especially is it:
3. The place of prayer. Here, either in sacred psalmody, or through some prepared formula, or led by the extemporaneous thought and aspiration of the minister, the worshippers draw nigh to God in every way in which he is approached by man in adoration, in communion, in thanksgiving, in confession, in supplication, in consecration. No worshipper in the house of the Lord can reach a higher level of spiritual attainment than when he pours out his heart in prayer to God in these various utterances; and no minister in the house of the Lord can render to the people gathered together a truer or higher service than when he helps them thus to approach the Father of spirits, and thus to come into direct communion with him. Then is the house of God put to its noblest and worthiest use when it is made by those who meet within its wails "the house of prayer. C.
Desecration.
Our Lord was touched and troubled with a holy indignation as he saw the temple of Jehovah turned into a place of traffic; that which was intended for the approach of the human spirit to God made to serve the purpose of hard bargaining, and even, as we judge from the language of the text, of dishonest dealings. It was a shocking, an intolerable desecration, and, exerting the authority which always resided in him and which he occasionally put into exercise, he drove these hucksters from the sacred place which they were desecrating by their presence and their practices, What places are we now tempted to desecrate?
I THE SANCTUARY. When, instead of making it a place of worship, of drawing near to God, of speaking to him or for him, of learning something more of his holy will, we make it a place for distinguishing ourselves, or for advertising our respectability, or for gaining enjoyment which is wholly unspiritual.
II THE HOME. When that which should be the abode of peace, of love, of purity, of fellowship, of tenderness, of gracious ministry, of quiet growth and joy, is turned into a scene of bitterness, of recrimination, of estrangement, of deterioration, of unhappiness.
III THE PLACE OF BUSINESS. That might be a sphere where valuable virtues and most acceptable graces are manifested and are strengthened truth, equity, courtesy, honour, courage, sagacity; too often it is nothing better than a sphere in which deceit, low cunning, dishonesty, a mean and miserable selfishness, are sown and reaped bountifully.
IV THE HUMAN BODY. In our treatment of this bodily frame, so skilfully and so wonderfully made, so nicely adjusted to receive and convey impressions from and to the outside world of man and nature, we may and we should act as if we were dealing with a very sacred thing. By cleanliness, by moderation, by purity; by entertaining through the ear and the eye God"s own truth and wisdom; by employing the tongue to speak his love and to sing his praise; by letting the graces of Christian character write themselves, as they will, in lineaments of beauty upon our countenance; by letting our bodies be, as they may be, the very temples of the Holy Ghost, (1Co_6:19) we may make them worthy and sacred in the sight of God. But when we regard them as mere instruments of gratification, and make them the ministers of sinful and even shameful pleasure, how great is such desecration before God!
V HUMAN LIFE. It is here that the Holy One most often sees with Divine regret a pitiful desecration. He gave us our life that it might be spent, through all its stages, in sacred service, in spiritual growth, in elevating joy, in excellent preparation for the larger and fuller life beyond. How grievously is it desecrated when it is turned into a time for mere pecuniary acquisition, or for mere fleshly enjoyment, or for mere emptiness and aimlessness of existence!
1. What a pitiful waste is this I and how it will one day be deplored as absolutely irreparable!
2. How perilous to form such evil habits of the soul, every day becoming more fixed l how wise to hear the Master"s voice summoning us to noble service, "Why stand ye all the day idle? go, work in my vineyard"! C.
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