John 2:13-22
2:13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2:14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.
2:15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.
2:16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”
2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
2:18 The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”
2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
2:20 The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”
2:21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body.
2:22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
[13] Καὶ ἐγγὺς ἦν τὸ πάσχα τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων, καὶ ἀνέβη εἰς ῾Ιεροσόλυμα ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς.
[14] καὶ εὗρεν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τοὺς πωλοῦντας βόας καὶ πρόβατα καὶ περιστεράς, καὶ τοὺς κερματιστὰς καθημένους.
[15] καὶ ποιήσας φραγέλλιον ἐκ σχοινίων πάντας ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ, τά τε πρόβατα καὶ τοὺς βόας, καὶ τῶν κολλυβιστῶν ἐξέχεε τὸ κέρμα καὶ τὰς τραπέζας ἀνέστρεψε,
[16] καὶ τοῖς τὰς περιστερὰς πωλοῦσιν εἶπεν· ἄρατε ταῦτα ἐντεῦθεν· μὴ ποιεῖτε τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός μου οἶκον ἐμπορίου.
[17] ἐμνήσθησαν δὲ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ὅτι γεγραμμένον ἐστίν, ὁ ζῆλος τοῦ οἴκου σου καταφάγεταί με.
[18]ἀπεκρίθησαν οὖν οἱ ᾿Ιουδαῖοι καὶ εἶπον αὐτῷ· τί σημεῖον δεικνύεις ἡμῖν ὅτι ταῦτα ποιεῖς;
[19] ἀπεκρίθη ᾿Ιησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον, καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐτόν.
[20] εἶπον οὖν οἱ ᾿Ιουδαῖοι· τεσσαράκοντα καὶ ἓξ ἔτεσιν ᾠκοδομήθη ὁ ναὸς οὗτος, καὶ σὺ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερεῖς αὐτόν;
[21] ἐκεῖνος δὲ ἔλεγε περὶ τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ.
[22] ὅτε οὖν ἠγέρθη ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἐμνήσθησαν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ὅτι τοῦτο ἔλεγε, καὶ ἐπίστευσαν τῇ γραφῇ καὶ τῷ λόγῳ ᾧ εἶπεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς.
Comments
Τhe first four sentences begin with the conjunction καί (‘and’), which suggests, as in St Mark’s Gospel, the style of oral narrative. (I have remarked this in previous comments.) Four verbs (noted below) in vv. 15, 17, and 19 evoke violent physical actions or reactions. ἐπίστευσαν in the concluding verse (22) denotes an inner condition or state.
[15] πάντας ἐξέβαλεν: 2nd aor. , 3rd pers. sg. < ἐκβάλλω, a cmpd vb, lit. ‘I throw (βάλλω) + out (ἐκ)’, connoting violent action; here = ‘drive out’.
ἐξέχεε τὸ κέρμα: ἐξέχεε, aor., 3rd pers. sg. < ἐκχέω, another ἐκ – cmpd vb, ‘I pour out’, ‘spill’, prop. of liquids (already in Homer: LSJ).
τὸ κέρμα, ‘coin’ (cl Gk); the collective sg. used here is prob. Hellenistic, and means ‘money’, ‘cash’ (LSJ & EDNT s.v.). Jesus strews the cash on the ground.
[17] καταφάγεταί με: fut. tense (already in LXX) < κατεσθίω, a cmpd vb, ‘I eat up’; here, fig., ‘consume’ (referring to fire, freq. in LXX: Muraoka s.v.κατεσθίω, 2b). This zeal consumed the son like fire.
[19] λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον: λύσατε, 3rd pers. pl., aor. imper. < λύω, ‘undo’, ‘destroy’ (already in Homer).
[20] καὶ σὺ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερεῖς αὐτόν;: the personal pronoun σὺ is not grammatically necessary in Greek. But it is rhetorically required to give emphasis, ‘And YOU will raise it up…?’ (The English translation does not convey this nuance.)
[22] ἐπίστευσαν τῇ γραφῇ καὶ τῷ λόγῳ ᾧ εἶπεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς: ἐπίστευσαν, 3rd pers. pl. < πιστεύω, ‘Ι believe’. The particular meaning is ‘they came to believe’, ‘their faith grew’—not ‘they believed’ as in the English translation. ἐπίστευσαν (lit., ‘they believed’) is an inceptive aorist: this type of aorist is construed with verbs expressing the entry into a continuous action or state. Examples in English: ‘I took ill’, ‘I was frightened’, ‘I took office’ (as opposed to ‘I served in office’), ‘I was delighted’.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 