# Temple Cleansed

Life of Jesus · Draft · BSB

Content revision: 852e8a294467276c · No editorial review date recorded

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Date: Final Passover through resurrection appearances. The crucifixion is commonly dated to AD 30 or 33. The closing stop extends through the forty-day appearance period in Acts; the whole group is not one eight-day interval.

In Jerusalem’s temple courts, Jesus drives out buyers and sellers and overturns the exchange tables. He appeals to Scripture about prayer and a den of robbers; the accounts also describe teaching, healing and mounting opposition.

Matthew, Mark and Luke place this action in the final visit, while John places a temple action near the beginning. This harmony displays both presentations without claiming that it has proved either one incident or two.

## Primary Scripture

[Matthew 21:12–17 (BSB)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2021%3A12%E2%80%9317&version=BSB)

21:12 Then Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves.

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.’”

21:14 The blind and the lame came to Him at the temple, and He healed them.

21:15 But the chief priests and scribes were indignant when they saw the wonders He performed and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

21:16 “Do You hear what these children are saying?” they asked. “Yes,” Jesus answered. “Have you never read: ‘From the mouths of children and infants You have ordained praise’?”

21:17 Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where He spent the night.

[Mark 11:15–19 (BSB)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2011%3A15%E2%80%9319&version=BSB)

11:15 When they arrived in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves.

11:16 And He would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.

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.’”

11:18 When the chief priests and scribes heard this, they looked for a way to kill Him. For they were afraid of Him, because the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.

11:19 And when evening came, Jesus and His disciples went out of the city.

[Luke 19:45–48 (BSB)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2019%3A45%E2%80%9348&version=BSB)

19:45 Then Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were selling there.

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.’”

19:47 Jesus was teaching at the temple every day, but the chief priests, scribes, and leaders of the people were intent on killing Him.

19:48 Yet they could not find a way to do so, because all the people hung on His words.

## Related Scripture

[Jeremiah 7:1–15 · teaching](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%207%3A1%E2%80%9315&version=BSB)

The temple sermon explains the den-of-robbers image in a warning against injustice and false security.

[Isaiah 56:6–8 · teaching](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2056%3A6%E2%80%938&version=BSB)

The house-of-prayer quotation includes the welcome for all peoples.

## Location evidence

The temple courts in Jerusalem are explicit in the accounts. A city marker cannot identify the precise position of the exchanges or teaching.

Event map marker: Identified site; \[longitude, latitude\] = \[35.23494, 31.77744\]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.

Jerusalem: Identified site. Coordinates \[longitude, latitude\]: \[35.23494, 31.77744\]. Classification source: rule.

[Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire](http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/15896)

[Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire](http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/15896)

## For the class

What do the two scriptural quotations reveal about the purpose of the action?

## Interpretation and reuse

Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.

Record source: theographic (445)

Record source: editorial

Events and places adapted from Theographic Bible Metadata (github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata), CC BY-SA 4.0. This adapted data is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.

Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.

Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm

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