The Authority of Jesus Challenged

²⁷And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, ²⁸and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” ²⁹Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.” ³¹And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³²But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. ³³So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

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