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13 And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,[a] but you are turning it into a den[b] of robbers!”[c]

14 The blind and lame came to him in the temple courts, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the experts in the law[d] saw the wonderful things he did and heard the children crying out in the temple courts,[e] “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 21:13 sn A quotation from Isa 56:7.
  2. Matthew 21:13 tn Or “a hideout” (see L&N 1.57).
  3. Matthew 21:13 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.
  4. Matthew 21:15 tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
  5. Matthew 21:15 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.