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13 After noticing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to see if he could find any fruit[a] on it. When he came to it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 He said to it,[b] “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.[c]

Cleansing the Temple

15 Then[d] they came to Jerusalem. Jesus[e] entered the temple area[f] and began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the temple courts.[g] He turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves,

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Footnotes

  1. Mark 11:13 tn Grk “anything.”
  2. Mark 11:14 tn Grk “And answering, he said to it.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokritheis) is redundant and has not been translated.
  3. Mark 11:14 sn Mark 11:12-14. The incident of the cursing of the fig tree occurs before he enters the temple for a third time (11:27ff) and is questioned at length by the religious leaders (11:27-12:40). It appears that Mark records the incident as a portent of what is going to happen to the leadership in Jerusalem who were supposed to have borne spiritual fruit but have been found by Messiah at his coming to be barren. The fact that the nation as a whole is indicted is made explicit in chapter 13:1-37 where Jesus speaks of Jerusalem’s destruction and his second coming.
  4. Mark 11:15 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
  5. Mark 11:15 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  6. Mark 11:15 tn Grk “the temple.”sn The merchants (those who were selling) would have been located in the Court of the Gentiles.
  7. Mark 11:15 tn Grk “the temple.”sn Matthew (21:12-27), Mark (here, 11:15-19), and Luke (19:45-46) record this incident of the temple cleansing at the end of Jesus’ ministry. John (2:13-16) records a cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. See the note on the word temple courts in John 2:14 for a discussion of the relationship of these accounts to one another.