But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.
| Word | Greek | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| But | δὲ de | G1161 | but · conjunction |
| if | ἐὰν ean | G1437 | a conditional particle · conditional particle |
| say | εἴπωμεν· eipōmen | G2036 | to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active subjunctive, 1st person plural |
| Of | ἐξ ex | G1537 | literal or figurative · preposition |
| men | ἀνθρώπων, anthrōpōn | G444 | from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι)) · noun — genitive plural masculine |
| fear | φοβούμεθα phoboumetha | G5399 | to frighten · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 1st person plural |
| people | ὄχλον· ochlon | G3793 | a throng (as borne along) · noun — accusative singular masculine |
| for | γὰρ gar | G1063 | properly · conjunction |
| all | πάντες pantes | G3956 | all · adjective — nominative plural masculine |
| hold | ἔχουσιν echousin | G2192 | to hold (used in very various applications · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person plural |
| John | Ἰωάννην.¶ Iōannēn | G2491 | Joannes (i.e. Jochanan) · noun — accusative singular masculine, a proper name |
| as | ὡς hōs | G5613 | which how · particle |
| prophet | προφήτην prophētēn | G4396 | a foreteller ("prophet") · noun — accusative singular masculine |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people--rather, "the multitude." In Luke (Luk 20:6) it is, "all the people will stone us." for all hold John as a prophet--Crooked, cringing hypocrites! No wonder Jesus gave you no answer.
But if we shall say of men,.... They reasoned with themselves, that should they give their answer in this form, and say, that the ministry and baptism of John, were merely human, and what he took up of himself, or which he performed by an authority derived from men, we fear the people; that were then upon the spot, in the temple; who, as many of them were now the followers of Christ, more of them had been the admirers of John, and probably had been baptized by him: wherefore the sanhedrim were afraid of them, lest if they should affirm, that the authority by which John acted was human, they would immediately rise up against them; and, as Luke says, "stone" them: so high a veneration had the…
Read the whole note in the consoleMatthew 21:23-27 Matthew 21:23-27 Mark 11:27-33 Luke 20:1-8 23. And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came to him, saying By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee that authority? [23] 24. And Jesus answering said to them, I also will ask you something, which if you shall tell me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25. Whence was the baptism of John? From heaven, or from men? But they thought within themselves saying, If we shall say, From heaven, he will say to us, Why then did you not believe him? 26. But if we shall say, From men, we dread the multitude, for they all hold John for a prophet. 27. And a…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn’s ministry, like Jesus’ (see 3:1, 5-6), was controversial, especially after John’s public denouncement of the sins of Herod Antipas (see 14:4). The leaders did not want to acknowledge that John’s ministry was from God, since they had refused to believe John by repenting of their sins (3:2) and accepting Jesus as the Messiah (John 1:29-34).
But should they reply that it was an invention of human device, and had in it nothing divine, they feared a tumult among the people. For all the assembled multitudes had received John's baptism, and held him accordingly for a Prophet.
(Verse 26) But if we say, From men, we are afraid of the multitude: for all held John as a prophet. If they had wanted to say that it was a human invention and had nothing divine, they feared the rebellion of the people. For all the crowds had received John's baptism in groups, and they held him as a prophet.
He also said to them: Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things. They answered and said to him: We don't know. Then Jesus also replied to them: Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things. But the Truth cannot lie, and he said: Neither do I tell you. From this, he shows that they know but refuse to answer, and he knows but refuses to say, because they keep silent about what they know. And immediately he tells a parable that not only condemns their impiety, but also teaches that the kingdom of God will be given to the Gentiles.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
