Luke 20:3

3 And he answered [and] said to them, "I also will ask you a question, and you tell me:

Luke 20:3 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 20:3

And he answered and said unto them
That is, Jesus replied to them, as the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Persic versions express it:

I will also ask you one thing, and answer me;
when he also promised, that if they would give him an answer to his question, he would satisfy them in the point they interrogated him about: and as this was a prudent decline to avoid the snare they laid for him, so it was not an impertinent reply to them; since it led on to a proper answer to their question, as appears by the case proposed; (See Gill on Matthew 21:24).

Luke 20:3 In-Context

1 And it happened that on one of the days [while] he was teaching the people in the temple [courts] and proclaiming the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes approached together with the elders

2 and said, saying to him, "Tell us, by what authority you are doing these [things], or who is the one who gave you this authority?

3 And he answered [and] said to them, "I also will ask you a question, and you tell me:

4 The baptism of John--was [it] from heaven or from men?

5 And they discussed [this] with one another, saying, "If we say 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why did you not believe him?'

Footnotes

• [a] *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("answered") has been translated as a finite verb