Luke 20:2

2 and said, "Tell us, what s'mikhah do you have that authorizes you to do these things? Who gave you this s'mikhah?"

Luke 20:2 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 20:2

And spoke unto him, saying, tell us by what authority
doest thou these things?
&c.] The Arabic and Ethiopic versions read, "this thing"; as if the sanhedrim only referred to his preaching the Gospel, which is mentioned in the preceding verse, and was what he was about when they came to him: but the Persic version reads, "all these things"; not only preaching, but working miracles; and particularly driving the buyers and sellers out of the temple, which especially affected them, they losing their rents thereby:

or who is he that gave thee this authority?
God or man? (See Gill on Matthew 21:23).

Luke 20:2 In-Context

1 One day, as Yeshua was teaching the people at the Temple, making known the Good News, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers, along with the elders, came up to him

2 and said, "Tell us, what s'mikhah do you have that authorizes you to do these things? Who gave you this s'mikhah?"

3 He answered, "I too will ask you a question. Tell me,

4 the immersion of Yochanan -- was it from Heaven or from a human source?" T

5 hey discussed it among themselves, saying, "If we say, `From Heaven,' he will say, `Then why didn't you believe him?'