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

Mark 11:27-33

New American Standard Bible

Jesus’ Authority Questioned

²⁷And they *came again to Jerusalem. ^(A)And as He was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders *came to Him, ²⁸and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?” ²⁹But Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.” ³¹And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ³²But should we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the ^[a]people, for they all considered John to have been a real prophet. ³³Answering Jesus, they *said, “We do not know.” And Jesus *said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.”