Matthew 21:12–14

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

There was in the temple a crowd of merchants — money-changers, or small-coin dealers — and with them sellers of oxen and sheep, and people selling turtledoves and pigeons. These things were useful for the sacrifices of worship under the law. But it was already time for the shadow to cease and for the truth in Christ to shine. So Christ, the Truth, rightly honored with his own Father in the temple that is his, commanded the sacrifices and smoke under the law to be curtailed, and showed the temple to be a house of prayer. For to rebuke the merchants and drive from the sacred precincts those selling what is useful for sacrifice is exactly that and nothing else.

Another evangelist says Jesus also “made a whip of cords,” (Matthew 21:12–13) (John 2:15) threatened blows, and raised it against them. Those who honor legal worship needed to know, after the truth was shown, that having a “spirit of slavery” (Romans 8:15) and refusing to be freed, they will be under scourges and subject to slavish punishment. He also sets Isaiah against them as accuser — for so the evangelist says.

Greek

Ἦν μὲν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ πληθὺς ἐμπόρων, ἀργυραμοιβοὶ ἤτοι κολλυ βισταὶ καὶ μετ' ἐκείνων βοῶναι καὶ προβάτων ἔμποροι τρυγόνας τε πιπράσκοντες καὶ περιστεράς. ταῦτα δὲ χρήσιμα ταῖς θυσίαις τῆς κατὰ νόμον λατρείας. ἀλλ' ἦν ἤδη ὁ καιρὸς τοῦ καταλῆξαι τὴν σκιὰν καὶ ἀνα λάμψαι τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ ἀλήθειαν· ταύτῃ τοι Χριστὸς εἰκότως ἡ ἀλήθεια ἅτε δὴ μετὰ τοῦ ἰδίου πατρὸς ἐν τῷ παρ' αὐτῷ ὄντι ναῷ τιμώμενος, συστέλλεσθαι μὲν τὰς ἐν νόμῳ προστέταχε θυσίας καὶ τοὺς καπνούς, οἶκον δὲ προσευχῆς ἀναδείκνυσθαι τὸν ναόν· τὸ γὰρ ἐπιπλήττειν τοῖς ἐμπόροις καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν περιβόλων ἀποσοβεῖν αὐτοὺς τὰ εἰς θυσίαν χρή σιμα διαπιπράσκοντάς τισι τοῦτο πάντως ἐστὶν καὶ ἕτερον οὐδέν. ἕτερος δὲ τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν "καὶ φραγέλλιον ἐκ σχοινίων ποιῆσαι" λέγει τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ ἀπειλῆσαι πληγὰς καὶ ἐπανατείνειν αὐτοῖς· ἔδει γὰρ εἰδέναι τοὺς τὴν νομικὴν τιμῶντας λατρείαν μετὰ τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀνάδειξιν, ὅτι "πνεῦμα δουλείας" ἔχοντες καὶ τὸ ἐλευθεροῦσθαι παραιτούμενοι ὑπὸ μάστιγας ἔσονται καὶ ὑποκείσονται κολάσει δουλοπρεπεῖ. ἐπιτειχίζει αὐτοῖς καὶ τὸν Ἠσαίαν κατήγορον–φησὶ γὰρ ὁ εὐαγγελιστής.

About this text

Catena fragments on Matthew (CPG 5206). Contents follow Matthew chapter and verse. Edition fragment numbers stay in About this text and under each passage.

English follows the named copy-text (Aegean/khazarzar Migne PG 72 extract). Other prints were checked as noted; no silent merge of recensions.

Witnesses

Copy-text Migne PG 72 Commentarii in Matthaeum (Aegean Digital Patrologia / khazarzar) (Greek · CPG 5206 catena fragments (290 parsed heads))
Checked print matia.gr mirror of same Aegean extract (Greek · Byte-identical PDF; integrity check only)
Checked print Internet Archive PG 72 volume OCR (bim … 1859_72) (Greek (OCR damaged) · Locus confirmation only; not used as reading text)

This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.