Mark 11:17

17 And he taught them, and said, Whether it is not written, That mine house shall be called the house of praying to all folks [+And he taught them, saying, Whether it is not written, For mine house shall be called the house of prayer to all folks]? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Mark 11:17 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 11:17

And he taught, saying unto them, is it not written
In ( Isaiah 56:7 ) .

My house shall be called of all nations, the house of prayer?
For not only the Jews went up to the temple to pray, see ( Luke 18:10 ) , but the Gentiles also, who became of the Jewish religion, and had a court built for that purpose; and so the whole temple, from hence, was called an house of prayer: and the meaning is, not only that it should be called so by the Gentiles, but that it should be so to them, and made use of by them as such. Jarchi's note on the clause in ( Isaiah 56:7 ) is, "not for Israel only, but also for the proselytes."

But ye have made it a den of thieves;
for no other, in our Lord's esteem, were the buyers and sellers of sheep, oxen, and doves, and the money changers, and the priests that encouraged them, and had a profit out of them: now these had their seats, shops, and tables, within the mountain of the house; and even in that part of it, which was assigned to the Gentiles, the nations of the world, who became proselytes, and came up to Jerusalem to worship there at certain times; (See Gill on Matthew 21:13).

Mark 11:17 In-Context

15 and they came to Jerusalem. And when he was entered into the temple, he began to cast out sellers and buyers in the temple [+and they come to Jerusalem. And when he had entered into the temple, he began to cast out men selling and buying in the temple]; and he turned upside-down the boards of changers, and the chairs of men that sold culvers;

16 and he suffered not, that any man should bear a vessel through the temple.

17 And he taught them, and said, Whether it is not written, That mine house shall be called the house of praying to all folks [+And he taught them, saying, Whether it is not written, For mine house shall be called the house of prayer to all folks]? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

18 And when this thing was heard, the princes of priests and [the] scribes sought how they should destroy him [sought how they should lose him]; for they dreaded him, for all the people wondered on his teaching.

19 And when evening was come, he went out of the city.