20 On one of the days while he was teaching the people in the temple and declaring the good news, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came 2 and said to him: “Tell us, by what authority do you do these things? Or who gave you this authority?”+ 3 He replied to them: “I will also ask you a question, and you tell me: 4 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?”* 5 Then they drew conclusions among themselves, saying: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From men,’ the people one and all will stone us, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.”+ 7 So they replied that they did not know its source. 8 Jesus said to them: “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.”