Luke 19:45–19:48, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Luke 19:45–19:48
Jesus Challenges the Temple's Use while Teaching Daily
He clears sellers, then teaches every day where they still gather
He goes into the temple and begins to cast out them that sold therein, saying it is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves. Luke's action is brief. Isaiah's prayer-house and Jeremiah's robber-den are joined against a present misuse, not against the temple as a bad idea, not against Torah, and not against Judaism as a corrupt religion. He does not found a new sacred architecture here. He charges how this house is being used.
He teaches daily in the temple. The chief priests, scribes, and chief of the people seek to destroy him and cannot find what they might do, for all the people are very attentive to hear him. Leadership panic and popular listening stand side by side. Do not invent a full economics of money-changers beyond what Luke tells. The conflict is over prayer, extraction, and who can bear public teaching in the house, among Jewish actors under empire, not a verdict on a people.
How this should shape us
Ask whether the holy place you keep — a sanctuary, a platform, a brand of ministry — is actually used for prayer and hearing, or for turning the gathered into a market. Change the practice in front of you. Do not use this scene to call Judaism itself a den.
Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and coverage.
Luke 19:45–19:48, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Greek wording and sentence relations; the edition is not treated as a complete apparatus.
Faithlife SBLGNT official repository, data/sblgnt/text/Luke.txt, 19:45–19:48
Supports: Greek forms, morphology, and lexical ranges only where the unit discusses them; local syntax controls sense.
STEP Bible Data official repository, TAGNT Matthew-Acts rows for Luke 19:45–19:48
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, KJV-language clarification, historical notes, Synoptic parallels, and textual alternatives.
NET Bible First Edition Luke PDF, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to Luke 19:45–19:48
Supports: Critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, narrative structure, sources, social questions, Passion, or resurrection.
Yale Bible Study Gospel of Luke course, Lost and Found, Luke 15:1-19:27, and In Jerusalem, Luke 19:28-22:71, study guides as the unit requires; applied to Luke 19:45–19:48
Supports: Current reader-oriented synthesis of anonymity, date, Jewish setting, salvation, marginalized people, parables, wealth, and whole-book movement.
Enter the Bible Luke course, Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, Bible in the World, and linked passage index; applied to Luke 19:45–19:48
Supports: One complete confessional reading of the unit, independently checked against critical, textual, and ethical controls.
Bolt, “Luke,” commentary heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Luke 19:45–19:48
Supports: Literary relationship evidence and material alternatives among Luke, Mark, and Matthew without treating dependence as a historicity verdict.
Goodacre, The Synoptic Problem, chapters 1-5 on Synoptic data and Markan priority and chapters 6-10 on Q and Farrer alternatives; applied to Luke 19:45–19:48
Supports: Abstract-supported control against simple anti-Jewish or replacement summaries; not a settlement of every scene.
Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), official abstract and bibliographic range pp. 738-765; applied only to Jewish continuity and Gentile-inclusion framing in Luke 19:45–19:48
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and coverage.
Exact location: Luke 19:45–19:48, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and sentence relations; the edition is not treated as a complete apparatus.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT official repository, data/sblgnt/text/Luke.txt, 19:45–19:48
Open the Luke Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Greek forms, morphology, and lexical ranges only where the unit discusses them; local syntax controls sense.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data official repository, TAGNT Matthew-Acts rows for Luke 19:45–19:48
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Luke
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, KJV-language clarification, historical notes, Synoptic parallels, and textual alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Luke PDF, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to Luke 19:45–19:48
Open source ↗open university bible study course
The Gospel of Luke Course and Study Guides
Yale Divinity School faculty
Yale Bible Study, 2020; current online edition
Supports: Critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, narrative structure, sources, social questions, Passion, or resurrection.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study Gospel of Luke course, Lost and Found, Luke 15:1-19:27, and In Jerusalem, Luke 19:28-22:71, study guides as the unit requires; applied to Luke 19:45–19:48
Open source ↗modern scholarly book introduction
Luke: Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, and Bible in the World
Matthew L. Skinner
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, 2024 revision; current course inspected 2026
Supports: Current reader-oriented synthesis of anonymity, date, Jewish setting, salvation, marginalized people, parables, wealth, and whole-book movement.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Luke course, Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, Bible in the World, and linked passage index; applied to Luke 19:45–19:48
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
Luke
Peter G. Bolt
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: One complete confessional reading of the unit, independently checked against critical, textual, and ethical controls.
Exact location: Bolt, “Luke,” commentary heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Luke 19:45–19:48
Open source ↗modern scholarly open monograph
The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze
Mark Goodacre
T&T Clark; open access supplied by the author and Duke University, 2001; open release 2011
Supports: Literary relationship evidence and material alternatives among Luke, Mark, and Matthew without treating dependence as a historicity verdict.
Exact location: Goodacre, The Synoptic Problem, chapters 1-5 on Synoptic data and Markan priority and chapters 6-10 on Q and Farrer alternatives; applied to Luke 19:45–19:48
Open source ↗peer reviewed article abstract and metadata
The Jewishness of Luke-Acts: How Recent Scholarship Has Challenged the View that Luke-Acts Is Pro-Gentile and Anti-Jewish
Joshua Paul Smith
The Journal of Theological Studies 72.2, 2021
Supports: Abstract-supported control against simple anti-Jewish or replacement summaries; not a settlement of every scene.
Exact location: Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), official abstract and bibliographic range pp. 738-765; applied only to Jewish continuity and Gentile-inclusion framing in Luke 19:45–19:48
Open source ↗