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Jesus’ Authority Questioned

23 When Jesus went into the temple courts, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him while he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things?” and “Who gave you this authority?”

24 Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer it, I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?”

They discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the crowd, since they all regard John as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”

He said to them, “Then I will not tell you by what authority I do these things.”

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Jesus’ Authority Challenged

23 And after[a] he arrived at the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him while he[b] was teaching, saying, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” 24 And Jesus answered and[c] said to them, “I also will ask you one question. If you tell the answer[d] to me, I also will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 From where was the baptism of John—from heaven or from men?” And they began to discuss[e] this[f] among themselves, saying, “If we say ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the crowd, because they all look upon John as a prophet.” 27 And they answered and[g] said to Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 21:23 Here “after” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“arrived”)
  2. Matthew 21:23 Here “while” is supplied as a component of the participle (“was teaching”) which is understood as temporal
  3. Matthew 21:24 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“answered”) has been translated as a finite verb
  4. Matthew 21:24 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  5. Matthew 21:25 The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to discuss”)
  6. Matthew 21:25 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  7. Matthew 21:27 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“answered”) has been translated as a finite verb