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and said to him,[a] “Tell us: By what authority[b] are you doing these things?[c] Or who is it who gave you this authority?” He answered them,[d] “I will also ask you a question, and you tell me: John’s baptism[e]—was it from heaven or from people?”[f]

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Footnotes

  1. Luke 20:2 tn Grk “and said, saying to him.” This is redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.
  2. Luke 20:2 tn On this phrase, see BDAG 844 s.v. ποῖος 2.a.γ.
  3. Luke 20:2 sn The leadership is looking back to acts like the temple cleansing (19:45-48). How could a Galilean preacher do these things?
  4. Luke 20:3 tn Grk “answering, he said to them.” This is redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.
  5. Luke 20:4 sn John, like Jesus, was not a part of the official rabbinic order. So the question “John’s baptism—was it from heaven or from men?” draws an analogy between John the Baptist and Jesus. See Luke 3:1-20; 7:24-27. The phrase John’s baptism refers to the baptism practiced by John.
  6. Luke 20:4 tn The plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anthrōpōn) is used here (and in v. 6) in a generic sense, referring to both men and women (cf. NAB, NRSV, “of human origin”; TEV, “from human beings”; NLT, “merely human”).sn The question is whether John’s ministry was of divine or human origin.

“Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”(A)

He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me: John’s baptism(B)—was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

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