2:20 forty-six years. The sentence itself does not indicate whether the temple was finished or was still under construction after these years of building. The first century Jewish historian Josephus (Antiquities, 15.380) says that the temple was begun in the eighteenth year of Herod the Great (around 19 b.c.) and was not completed until the reign of Herod Agrippa (a.d. 63), indicating that construction was still continuing in Jesus’ time.

will you raise it up in three days. The Jews (and the disciples, v. 22) misunderstand Jesus’ ambiguous statement. Such initial misunderstanding is common in John’s Gospel (e.g., 3:4; 6:52). Those who “receive” Jesus (1:12) are led on to full understanding, but those who reject Him remain at the level of complete misunderstanding (1:5).