Go to Related Reading
About this book

John

About this book
Chapter 2

1 Now on the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine left.”⁠ 4 Jesus replied, “Woman, why are you saying this to me? My time has not yet come.” 5 His mother told the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.” 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washing, each holding 20 or 30 gallons.⁠ 7 Jesus told the servants, “Fill the water jars with water.” So they filled them up to the very top. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the head steward,” and they did. 9 When the head steward tasted the water that had been turned to wine, not knowing where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), he called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the cheaper wine when the guests are drunk. You have kept the good wine until now!” 11 Jesus did this as the first of his miraculous signs, in Cana of Galilee. In this way he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him. 12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there a few days. 13 Now the Jewish Feast of Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 He found in the temple courts those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting at tables. 15 So he made a whip of cords and drove them all out of the temple courts, with the sheep and the oxen. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.⁠ 16 To those who sold the doves he said, “Take these things away from here! Do not make my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will devour me.” 18 So then the Jewish leaders responded, “What sign can you show us, since you are doing these things?” 19 Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.”⁠ 20 Then the Jewish leaders said to him, “This temple has been under construction for 46 years, and are you going to raise it up in three days?” 21 But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body.⁠ 22 So after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the saying that Jesus had spoken. 23 Now while Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them because he knew all people. 25 He did not need anyone to testify about man, for he knew what was in man.

Texts in conversation

Compare Malachi 3:3 and John 2:14

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

Share:

Summary

Malachi speaks of a future leader who cleanses the temple and its priests so proper worship can return. John echoes this by showing Jesus driving merchants from the temple, presenting him as a Jewish reformer who confronts corruption and restores order.

Passages

Malachi 3:3

Hebrew Bible
1 “Behold*, I am about to send my messenger, who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 2 Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can keep standing when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap. 3 He will act like a refiner and purifier of silver and will cleanse the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will offer the Lord a proper offering. 4 The offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in former times and years past.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Malachi

John 2:14

New Testament
12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there a few days. 13 Now the Jewish Feast of Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 He found in the temple courts those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting at tables. 15 So he made a whip of cords and drove them all out of the temple courts, with the sheep and the oxen. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold the doves he said, “Take these things away from here! Do not make my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will devour me.”
90–110 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in John

References

"... Texts such as 1QS 8 demonstrate that the Qumran ‘council of the community’ understood itself as a spiritual temple that offered spiritual sacrifices to God, with priests forming the inner (‘Holy of Holies’). This self-definition arose out the community’s dissatisfaction with the Jerusalem priesthood and reflects its anticipation of a restoration and purification of the temple cult by the eschatological priest. Such ideas are likewise reflected in John 2.13-22. In 2.14-17, Jesus is portrayed as the refiner of Israel’s corrupted temple, which may be meant to evoke imagery from Malachi 3.1-4. Malachi foretells a day when the Lord will enter the temple and send a priestly figure—‘the messenger of the covenant’ — to turn the way of the people back to the Lord and to purify the temple cult, so that proper worship might once again take place in Jerusalem. Jesus’ actions in the temple may be understood against this backdrop of a coming priestly figure, whose purpose is to restore Israel’s cultic communion with her God ..."
Wally V. Cirafesi, “The Priestly Portrait of Jesus in the Gospel of John in the Light of 1QS, 1QSa and 1QSb,” JGRChJ 8 (2011–2012): 83–105.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Malachi 3:3 and John 2:14

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library