Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Parallel translations
- WEB saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”
- BSB He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be a house of prayer.’ But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
- NKJV saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”
- NASB saying to them, “It is written: ‘And My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
- NLT He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus declares that God's house should be a house of prayer but has become a den of robbers. Worship had been corrupted by greed.
Overview
Quoting Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11, Jesus indicts the leaders for turning the place of prayer into a haven for exploitation. His rebuke defends the holiness of worship and the access to God it was meant to provide. The cleansing anticipates the new and living way to God that Christ would open through himself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Isa 56:7Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
- Jer 7:11Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.
- Ezek 43:12This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
- Matt 23:13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
- Ps 93:5Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, for ever.
- Hos 12:7He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 19:46 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.