John 2:19

New English Translation

¹⁹Jesus replied,^[a] “Destroy^[b] this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.”

John 2:19 tn Grk “answered and said to them.”
John 2:19 tn The imperative here is really more than a simple conditional imperative (= “if you destroy”); its semantic force here is more like the ironical imperative found in the prophets (Amos 4:4, Isa 8:9) = “Go ahead and do this and see what happens.”

New English Translation (NET)