Bible Strands
Matthew 21:13
And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to the merchants and money-changers he has just driven from the temple courts (v. 12), immediately after overturning their tables.
The words — οἶκος (oikos, "house") appears twice, first as "My house" and then as "a house of prayer," setting up the contrast with "a den of robbers." The repeated noun is the hinge of the argument.
The thread — "Den of robbers" comes from Jeremiah 7:11; "house of prayer" from Isaiah 56:7. Luke 19:46 preserves the same words in the parallel account.
Why it lands — The verse forces a reader to name what their own worship has actually become when measured against its stated purpose. It is not a general warning but an accusation aimed at a specific, visible corruption.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 7:11 Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD.
- Isaiah 56:7 I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”
- Luke 19:46 He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be a house of prayer.’ But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
- Mark 11:17 Then Jesus began to teach them, and He declared, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
- Psalms 93:5 Your testimonies are fully confirmed; holiness adorns Your house, O LORD, for all the days to come.
- John 15:25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’
- Matthew 2:5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: