John 2:23 - Jesus Cleanses the Temple (2024)

Verse (Click for Chapter)

New International Version
Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.New Living Translation
Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him.English Standard Version
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.Berean Standard Bible
While He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the signs He was doing and believed in His name.Berean Literal Bible
And when He was in Jerusalem in the Passover, in the Feast, many believed in His name, beholding His signs that He was doing.King James Bible
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.New King James Version
Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.New American Standard Bible
Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name as they observed His signs which He was doing.NASB 1995
Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing.NASB 1977
Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, beholding His signs which He was doing.Legacy Standard Bible
Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, when they saw His signs which He was doing.Amplified Bible
Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in His name [identifying themselves with Him] after seeing His signs (attesting miracles) which He was doing.Christian Standard Bible
While he was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.Holman Christian Standard Bible
While He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many trusted in His name when they saw the signs He was doing. American Standard Version
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, during the feast, many believed on his name, beholding his signs which he did.Aramaic Bible in Plain English
But when Yeshua was staying in Jerusalem at Passover during the feast, many trusted in him because they saw the miracles that he performed.Contemporary English Version
In Jerusalem during Passover many people put their faith in Jesus, because they saw him work miracles. Douay-Rheims Bible
Now when he was at Jerusalem, at the pasch, upon the festival day, many believed in his name, seeing his signs which he did. English Revised Version
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, during the feast, many believed on his name, beholding his signs which he did.GOD'S WORD® Translation
While Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many people believed in him because they saw the miracles that he performed.Good News Translation
While Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in him as they saw the miracles he performed. International Standard Version
While Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover Festival, many people believed in him because they saw the signs that he was doing. Literal Standard Version
And as He was in Jerusalem, in the Passover, in the celebration, many believed in His Name, beholding His signs that He was doing;Majority Standard Bible
While He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the signs He was doing and believed in His name.New American Bible
While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.NET Bible
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.New Revised Standard Version
When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing.New Heart English Bible
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name, after seeing his signs which he did.Webster's Bible Translation
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he performed.Weymouth New Testament
Now when He was in Jerusalem, at the Festival of the Passover, many became believers in Him through watching the miracles He performed.World English Bible
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name, observing his signs which he did. Young's Literal Translation
And as he was in Jerusalem, in the passover, in the feast, many believed in his name, beholding his signs that he was doing;Additional Translations ...

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(23) In the feast day.--Omit the word "day" after feast. The italics show that there is no word to express it in the Greek, and it gives the impression of one day, whereas the feast extended over a week. The idea of time, moreover, is not expressed by "in the feast." The sentence means, When He was in the feast (engaged in keeping the feast) at Jerusalem, during the Passover.

Many believed.--The persons are distinct from the official representatives of the nation (John 2:18-19), as the place, Jerusalem, is distinguished from the Temple.

When they saw the miracles.--Better, as before, signs. The original words imply that their faith was dependent upon the signs which they gazed upon, without entering into their deeper meaning. It was the impulsive response of the moment, not based upon a previous preparation, nor resulting in a present deep conviction. It came far short of the faith of the disciples, who passed from a true knowledge of Moses and the Prophets to a true knowledge of Christ without a sign; but it came far above the disbelief of scribes and Pharisees, who after a sign rejected Him. It was not the prepared good ground bringing forth abundantly; but neither was it the hardened wayside which did not receive the seed at all.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 23-ch. 3:2. -

(3) Numerous signs in Jerusalem, with their twofold effects. Verse 23. - A new paragraph is commenced here. The conversation with Nicodemus is prefaced by a very remarkable summary of facts, and a hint of principles of action, which are intended to throw light on the great discourse, which hears the same kind of relation to St. John's Gospel that the sermon on the mount does to St. Matthew's Gospel. It is a compendium of the Christian faith. The very fulness and sufficiency of it suggests the doubt of its authenticity. Is not the Lord's reticence on other occasions, and even his enigmatic, parabolic methods of teaching, in decided contrast with the abundance of the revelations with which Nicodemus was favoured? We are tempted to ask - What was the evangelist's source of information? The only reply that seems to me rational is that John himself was the auditor of this discourse, and has preserved it for the edification and solace of the world. The disciple whom Jesus loved never left him, but was perpetually drinking in his words, and, with a genuine Hebrew retentiveness, preserved them intact; at all events, he so reproduced the leading ideas of the conversation. This is, we maintain, a far more scientific treatment of the authorities than the hypothesis of a Johannist of the second century having gathered up and idealized the synoptic records of the scribes, who, by sundry questions, brought forth from the Lord some of his most characteristic teaching. Thoma urges that we have here a spiritual rechauffe of "the rich young man," of "the lawyer," and of the story of Paul, himself a Pharisee, when finally convinced that he needed a new creation and a spiritual life! First of all, then, we have the place, general period, and specific time referred to: Now when he was in Jerusalem - not the temple, but in the houses and streets, and perhaps suburbs, of Jerusalem (Ἱερουσαλύμοις the plural form used generally in the Gospel, while Ἱερουσαλήμ is used in the Revelation in symbolic sense) - at the Passover; a period generally covering nine or ten days of celebration, extending from the first purifying of the houses from all leaven and the drawing of pure water on the thirteenth Nisan, the paschal meal on the fourteenth Nisan, the feasts in the evenings of the great days of convocation, fifteenth and twenty-first of the month, and the ceremonies of the intervening six days. In the feast must refer to one or ether of the great days of convocation, worship, and feasting. Many believed on his Name; i.e. on his Messiahship, rather than on himself, as their Prophet, Purifier, self-sacrificing Priest, or than on himself as Lamb of God or Son of God. They accepted on easy terms, with a fickle and perhaps eager fanaticism, the first impression produced by him when they saw the signs which he was making of his heavenly mission and nature. We must conclude, therefore, that he did in many ways partially unveil himself. Nicodemus heard of these "signs," and referred them to a Divine commission. John does not here, nor elsewhere, say what these signs were - whether they consisted of effects produced on nature or on men, whether they were deeds of healing, or of moral compulsion, or repression, or reformation. Great expectations with reference to a coming Christ had been excited in the breasts of tens of thousands by John the Baptist's fiery ministry. The result was that men now flocked to Jesus in greater numbers than they had done to him (John 3:26). The faith that they exercised was neither deep nor appreciative, yet it was worthy of the name of faith. Parallel Commentaries ...

Greek

While
Ὡς (Hōs)
Adverb
Strong's 5613: Probably adverb of comparative from hos; which how, i.e. In that manner.

He was
ἦν (ēn)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

John 2:23 - Jesus Cleanses the Temple (2024)

References