Matthew Chapter 21 verse 24 Holy Bible
And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one question, which if ye tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
read chapter 21 in ASV
And Jesus said to them in answer, I will put one question to you, and if you give me the answer, I will say by what authority I do these things.
read chapter 21 in BBE
And Jesus answering said to them, *I* also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, *I* also will tell you by what authority I do these things:
read chapter 21 in DARBY
And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
read chapter 21 in KJV
read chapter 21 in WBT
Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
read chapter 21 in WEB
And Jesus answering said to them, `I will ask you -- I also -- one word, which if ye may tell me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things;
read chapter 21 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 24. - I also will ask you one thing; λόγον ἕνα: one word, question. Jesus does not reply directly to their insidious demand. He might have asserted his Divine mission, and appealed to his miracles in confirmation of such claim, which would have been in strict conformity with the old, established rule for discriminating false and true prophets (see Deuteronomy 18:22; Jeremiah 28:9); but he knew too well their scepticism and malice and inveterate prejudice to lay stress on this allegation at the present moment. Before he satisfied their inquiry, he must have their opinion concerning one whom they had received as a prophet a few years ago, and whose memory was still held in the highest respect, John the Baptist. The manner in which they regarded him and his testimony would enable them to answer their own interrogation.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(24) I also will ask you one thing.--The question is met by another question. As One who taught as "having authority, and not as the scribes" (Matthew 7:29), He challenges their right to interrogate Him on the ground of precedent. Had they exercised that right in the case of the Baptist, and if so, with what result? If they had left his claim unquestioned, or if they had shrunk from confessing the result of their inquiry, they had virtually abdicated their office, and had no right, in logical consistency, to exercise it, as by fits and starts, in the case of another teacher.
