Matthew 10:20

20 for ye are not the speakers, but the Spirit of your Father that is speaking in you.

Matthew 10:20 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 10:20

For it is not ye that speak
Not but that they were to speak the words, and did; but then both the things they spoke, and the very words in which they spoke them, were not of themselves, but were suggested and dictated by the Spirit of God; for as "the preparation of the heart" in them, so "the answer of the tongue" by them, were both "from the Lord": the Spirit, he was the efficient cause, they were only instruments; for not they of themselves spoke; or not so much they,

but the Spirit of your father, which speaketh in you,
or "by you": what they should say was not to be dictated by their own spirit or natural understanding, nor by an angel, but by the Spirit of God; called the "Spirit of" their "father", because he proceeds from him, is of the same nature with him, and is the reason of his being given to them: and this character of him might serve to strengthen their faith in the expectation of him, and in the assistance promised, and to be had by him; since he was the spirit of him, who stood in the relation of a father to them, and bore a paternal affection for them.

Matthew 10:20 In-Context

18 and before governors and kings ye shall be brought for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations.
19 `And whenever they may deliver you up, be not anxious how or what ye may speak, for it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak;
20 for ye are not the speakers, but the Spirit of your Father that is speaking in you.
21 `And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and father child, and children shall rise up against parents, and shall put them to death,
22 and ye shall be hated by all because of my name, but he who hath endured to the end, he shall be saved.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.