John 2:16

16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”

John 2:16 in Other Translations

16 And said unto them that sold doves,Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.

16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade."

16 Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”

16 He told the dove merchants, "Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a shopping mall!"

16 He told those who were selling doves, "Get these things out of here! Stop turning My Father's house into a marketplace!"

John 2:16 Meaning and Commentary

John 2:16

And said unto them that sold doves
For as these were kept in coups, or cages, they could not be drove, as the sheep and oxen, nor could they be let out, and fly, without the loss of the owners: and therefore Christ said to them,

take these things hence;
not only the doves, but the pens, coups, or cages, in which they were, and both together:

make not my Father's house an house of merchandise;
so he calls the temple, which was built as an house for God, and where he took up his residence; where were the symbols of his presence; where his worship was kept, and sacrifices offered to him: and he asserts God, whose house this was, to be his Father, and himself to be his son, as none of the prophets that went before him did; and in such sense as neither men nor angels are; and which carries in it a reason why he was so much concerned for the honour of God, and so much resented the profanation of his house, because he was his Father. A like action with this, done by Christ at another time, is recorded in ( Matthew 21:12 Matthew 21:13 ) . This was at the beginning of his ministry, that at the close of it, in which he expressed himself with more warmth and severity than here: here he only charges them with making his Father's house an house of merchandise, but there with making it a den of thieves; since they had not only slighted, and despised his first reproof, but had returned to their evil ways, and might grow more wicked and audacious. This instance of Christ now coming into the temple as a public minister, and which was the first time of his entrance into it, after he had taken this character, was a further accomplishment of ( Malachi 3:1 ) , for he now went into it, as the Lord and proprietor of it; and which this action of his in driving out the merchants, with their cattle, shows; and was a surprising instance of his divine power; and is equal to other miracles of his, that a single person, a stranger, one of no power and authority in the government, unassisted and unarmed, with only a scourge of small cords, should carry such awe and majesty with him, and inject such terror into, and drive such a number of men before him, who were selling things for religious uses, and were supported in it by the priests and sanhedrim of the nation.

John 2:16 In-Context

14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.

15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.

16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”

17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

Cross References

• 1. Luke 2:49