When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves,and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace.He said to them,“ The Scriptures declare,‘ My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”
While Ezra prayed and made this confession, weeping and lying face down on the ground in front of the Temple of God, a very large crowd of people from Israel— men, women, and children— gathered and wept bitterly with him.
When I heard this, I tore my cloak and my shirt, pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat down utterly shocked.Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel came and sat with me because of this outrage committed by the returned exiles. And I sat there utterly appalled until the time of the evening sacrifice.
It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem.In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money.Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables.Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them,“ Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures:“ Passion for God’s house will consume me.”
