Mark 11:27-32

Jesus’ Authority Challenged

27 And they came again to Jerusalem. And [as] he was walking in the temple [courts], the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came up to him

28 and said to him, "By what authority are you doing these [things], or who gave you this authority that you do these [things]?"

29 So Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question. Answer me and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these [things].

30 The baptism of John--was [it] from heaven or from men? Answer me!"

31 And they began to discuss [this] with one another, saying, "What should we say? If we say 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'

32 But if we say, 'From men'"--they were afraid of the crowd, because they all looked upon John {as truly a prophet}.

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[as]" is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle ("was walking")
• [b]. *Here "[courts]" is supplied to distinguish this area from the interior of the temple building itself
• [c]. The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here ("began to discuss")
• [d]. *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [e]. Some manuscripts omit "What should we say?"
• [f]. Literally "that he was truly a prophet"