What Does Mark 11:17 Mean in the King James?
And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The house meant to open prayer to every nation has become a shelter for bandits.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks wherever a place meant for prayer and shared access becomes cover for taking from others. Its sacred name does not conceal what happens inside: it is either open toward prayer for all peoples or sheltering those who prey on them. The verse holds that contradiction in full view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A sacred label does not make a place sacred in its use; calling it a house of prayer cannot cover the harm done there.
THE ROOT
λῃστῶν
lēstōn
GROWS FROM
λῃστ
λῃστ- (lēst-): robber or bandit, especially one who plunders.
“thieves” in this verse is lēstōn. The Greek word can suggest bandits rather than only people who steal secretly. Calling the place their den pictures a refuge that shelters predation, the opposite of a house opened for prayer across peoples.
ALSO GROWS
lēstēs: robber, bandit
λῃστής
This singular noun belongs to the same λῃστ- family; the verse uses its plural form for those sheltered by the den.
lēsteuō: to rob or plunder as a bandit
λῃστεύω
This verb shares the λῃστ- stem and names the predatory action the den shelters.
ἔθνεσιν
ethnesin
GROWS FROM
ἐθν
ἐθν- (ethn-): a people or nation.
“nations” in this verse is ethnesin. The phrase reaches toward all peoples, not one community alone. That open horizon stands against the bandits’ enclosed refuge: welcome is part of what this house is meant to be.
ALSO GROWS
ethnos: nation, people
ἔθνος
This is the singular form behind the verse’s plural “nations,” grounding the house’s wide welcome in the word for a people.
ethnikos: of the nations; Gentile
ἐθνικός
This related word carries the same ἐθν- family into the distinction between a people and the nations beyond it.
προσευχῆς
proseuchēs
GROWS FROM
εὐχ
εὐχ- (euch-): pray, wish, or vow.
The word translated “prayer” belongs to a family that also carries the sense of a vow or expressed wish. The house is defined by directed appeal to God, and that appeal is declared open to every people.
ALSO GROWS
euchomai: to pray, wish, or vow
εὔχομαι
This verb belongs to the same εὐχ- family, linking prayer with an expressed desire or commitment.
euchē: prayer, wish, or vow
εὐχή
This related noun shows that prayer shares a word-family with a voiced wish or vow, not merely a label for a building.
THE PATTERN
A place dedicated to God’s presence is meant to open prayer across peoples, and its sacred name cannot hide exploitation within it.
Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.THE THREAD
Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.Mark reprises Jeremiah’s phrase “den of robbers”; in the Greek wording of both verses, the word is λῃστῶν (lēstōn, bandits). The earlier charge opens Mark’s line further: a sacred name cannot hide a place that shelters predation.
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