The Temple as a House of Prayer

The Bible says God's house is called “a house of prayer for all peoples” in Isaiah 56:7. The same passage says that God will bring people to his holy mountain and make them joyful in his house of prayer.

Jeremiah 7:11 asks whether the house called by God's name has become a den of robbers. In Matthew 21:12 and Mark 11:15, Jesus drives out those selling and buying in the sacred place and overturns moneychangers' tables. John 2:15 likewise describes him driving people and animals out of the temple and overturning tables.