Matthew 21:23-27

New American Standard Bible

Authority Challenged

²³^(A)When He entered the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him ^(B)while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” ²⁴But Jesus responded and said to them, “I will also ask you one ^[a]question, which, if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵The baptism of John was from what source: from heaven or from men?” And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ²⁶But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the ^[b]people; for they all regard John as ^(C)a prophet.” ²⁷And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.

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Footnotes

Matthew 21:24 Lit word
Matthew 21:26 Lit crowd

Luke 20:1-8

New American Standard Bible

Jesus’ Authority Questioned

20 ^(A)On one of the days while ^(B)He was teaching the people in the temple and ^(C)preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders ^(D)confronted Him, ²and they declared, saying to Him, “Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?” ³But He replied to them, “I will also ask you a ^[a]question, and you tell Me: ⁴Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?” ⁵They discussed among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ ⁶But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us to death, since they are convinced that John was a ^(E)prophet.” ⁷And so they answered that they did not know where it came from. ⁸And Jesus said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.”