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John 2 · a question people ask

John tells of the tables overturned here, in chapter 2. Mark, Matthew and Luke tell of Jesus driving people out of the temple later in their books. Did it happen twice?

In the text

Each Gospel tells it in its own place. In John it comes after the wedding at Cana and a few days in Capernaum (2:1-12), when "The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem" (2:13). In Mark and Matthew it comes after the cry "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Mark 11:9; Matthew 21:9), and in Luke after "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Luke 19:38) (Mark 11:9-15; Matthew 21:9-12; Luke 19:38-45). John has "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!" later in his book (12:13), and tells of no tables overturned in that chapter. None of the Gospels says whether they tell one event or two. These notes don't say either, and don't fit their order together. The go-deeper sets their words side by side.

The verses

“On the next day a great multitude had come to the feast. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him, and cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!””
John 12:12-13 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of John 2

John 2: The beginning of his signs

At Cana, John tells of no word spoken over the water: Jesus tells the servants "Fill the water pots with water" and "Now draw some out", and the ruler of the feast "didn’t know where it came from", but the servants knew (2:7-9). And "When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered" his words about the temple (2:22).

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Last reviewed October 1, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions