Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
Then the devil taketh him up, [ paralambanei (G3880 ) - rather, 'conducteth him'] into the holy city - so called (as in Isaiah 48:2; Nehemiah 11:1) from its being "the city of the Great King," the seat of the temple, the metropolis of all Jewish worship.
And setteth him on a pinnacle, [ to (G3588 ) pterugion (G4419 ), rather, 'the pinnacle'] of the temple - a certain well-known projection. Whether this refer to the highest summit of the temple [the korufee], which bristled with golden spikes (Joseph. Ant. 5: 5, 6); or whether it refer to another peak, on Herod's royal portico, overhanging the ravine of Kedron, at the valley of Hinnom-an immense tower built on the very edge of this precipice, from the top of which dizzy height Josephus says one could not look to the bottom (Ant. 15: 11, 5) - is not certain; but the latter is probably meant.