Mark 11:17

He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers!”

World English Bible
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Other translations

WEBBE

He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers!”

BSB

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.’”

KJV

And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

ASV

And he taught, and said unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? but ye have made it a den of robbers.

BBE

And he gave them teaching, and said to them, Is it not in the Writings, My house is to be named a house of prayer for all the nations? but you have made it a hole of thieves.

Original Greek

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καὶ kai And G2532 ἐδίδασκεν edidasken He was teaching G1321 καὶ kai and G2532 ἔλεγεν elegen was saying G3004 αὐτοῖς autois to them G846 οὐ ou Surely G3756 γέγραπται gegraptai it has been written G1125 ὅτι hoti that G3754 ὁ ho The G3588 οἶκός oikos house G3624 μου mou of Mine G3165 οἶκος oikos a house G3624 προσευχῆς proseuchēs of prayer G4335 κληθήσεται klēthēsetai will be called G2564 πᾶσιν pasin for all G3956 τοῖς tois the G3588 ἔθνεσιν; ethnesin nations G1484 ὑμεῖς humeis You yourselves G4771 δὲ de however G1161 πεποιήκατε pepoiēkate have made G4160 αὐτὸν auton it G846 σπήλαιον spēlaion a den G4693 λῃστῶν.¶ lēstōn of robbers G3027

The early church

It goes on: And he taught, saying unto them, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer. (Isa. 56:7)
Bede · d. 735Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)
(ubi sup.) He says, to all nations, not to the Jewish nation alone, nor in the city of Jerusalem alone, but over the whole world; and he does not say a house of bulls, goats, and rams, but of prayer.
Bede · d. 735Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)
(ubi sup.) For they were in the temple for this purpose, either that they might persecute with corporal pains those who did not bring gifts, or spiritually kill those who did. The mind and conscience of the faithful is also the temple and the house of God, but if it puts forth perverse thoughts, to the hurt of any one, it may be said that thieves haunt it as a den; therefore the mind of the faithful becomes the den of a thief, when leaving the simplicity of holiness, it plans that which may hurt others.
Bede · d. 735Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)
According to Isaiah: But ye have made it a den of thieves, (Jer. 7:11) according to Jeremiah.
Pseudo-Jerome · d. 9999Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)
He calls moneychangers, changers of a particular sort of money, for the word means a small brass coin. There follows, and the seats of them that sold doves. But if a man by sinning gives up to the devil the grace and purity of baptism, he has sold his Dove, and for this reason is cast out of the temple. There follows, And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. Further, He calls the temple, a den of thieves, on account of the money gained there; for thieves always troop together for gain. Since then they sold those animals which were offered in sacrifice for the sake of gain, He called them thieves. Which also turns to the greater condemnation of the Jews, because though the Lord did this so many times, nevertheless they did not correct their conduct.
Theophylact of Ohrid · d. 1107Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 12–18

Christ looked to find some fruit, for the time of gathering figs, though it was near, was not yet come; but he found none. He made this fig-tree an example, not to the trees, but to the men of that generation. It was a figure of the doom upon the Jewish church, to which he came seeking fruit, but found none. Christ went to the temple, and began to reform the abuses in its courts, to show that when the Redeemer came to Zion, it was to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The scribes and the chief priests sought, not how they might make their peace with him, but how they might destroy him. A desperate attempt, which they could not but fear was fighting against God.

Read Matthew Henry on Mark 11 →

Parallel passages

3

The same words or events elsewhere, including Old Testament passages quoted in the New.

Isaiah 56:7Matthew 21:13Luke 19:46

Cross-references

7

Topics

Quotations And AllusionsTempleTheft And ThievesHouse Of God

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.