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Matthew 21:13

He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!”

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!”

  • TYNDALE Tyndale New Testament (1534)

    and sayde to them: It is wrytten my housse shalbe called the housse of prayer. But ye have made it a denne of theves.

  • GNV Geneva Bible (1599)

    And said to them, it is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer: but ye haue made it a denne of theeues.

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Examined in Scripture Analysis

Contradictions (1)

Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.

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Cross-references (7)

Passages linked to Matthew 21:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • 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.
  • 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.”
  • Luke 19:46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”
  • Mark 11:17 He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers!”
  • Psalms 93:5 Your statutes stand firm. Holiness adorns your house, Yahweh, forever more.
  • John 15:25 But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
  • Matthew 2:5 They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is written through the prophet,

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (11 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 13 And said unto them, It is written, My…

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.

Ver. 13. Shall be called the house of prayer] A principal piece of God’s public worship, and here put for the whole. Christ himself never came into this house but he preached as well as prayed. In the sanctuary was the incense altar in the middle, a type of prayer; the table of shewbread on the one side, betokening the twelve tribes, and the candlestick, a type of the word, on the other: to teach us that there is a necessity of both ordinances to all God’s people.

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But ye have made it a den of thieves] So Christ calleth not the money merchants only, but the priests also that set them to work. And whereas they cried, "the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord" (for to those was this speech first addressed, Jer 7:11), as if they could not do amiss because they served in the temple, the prophet tells them there, and our Saviour these here, that it is so much the worse. What should an angel of darkness do in heaven? Who required these things at your hands, to tread the courts of my temple? This is the gate of the Lord, into which the righteous only should enter, Psa 118:20. The Papists in like sort cry out at this day, Ecclesia, Ecclesia, Nos sumus Ecclesia; and herewith think to shroud their base huckstering of holy things. For omnia Romae venalia, all things are saleable and soluble at Rome. But this covering is too short, and their gross thieveries are now made apparent to all the world, as their cross of grace and the blood of Hales were at Paul’s cross by that noble Cromwell; and as their cheating trade of indulgencies and pope’s pardons was by Luther, who by dint of argument overthrew those Romish money changers, and drove the country of those χριστοκαπηλοι and χριστεμποροι, as Nazianzen fitly calleth them.

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 said unto them, it is written,.... In Isa…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A den of thieves - A proverbial expression, for…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 13. My house shall be called the house…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain My house shall. That man is a thief, and…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 13. Den of thieves — Jer_7:11 : “Is this…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 13. My house shall be called the house of…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (13) It is written.—The words which our Lord quotes…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain It is written. Jesus confirms his action by the…
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 13. It is written. In Isa. 56:7. A house…
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 21:13 Jesus’ actions were justified, because God’s glory was…

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