20:5a

They deliberated among themselves and said: This clause introduces the leaders’ words in 20:5b. The Greek verbs that the Berean Standard Bible translates as deliberated among themselves and said refer to the same action. The leaders talked to each other about how they should answer the question that Jesus asked them. The following verses tell what the leaders said in their discussion. Other ways to introduce the discussion are:

They discussed it with one another, saying (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
They started to argue among themselves (Good News Translation)

20:5b

If we say, ‘From heaven’: The pronoun we refers to the Jewish leaders who spoke to each other. They did not include Jesus in their conversation. They were considering one possible answer that they could give Jesus.

The phrase From heaven is a quote within a quote. Translate it in a natural way in your language. Some ways to do this in English are:

If we say that ⌊John’s baptism came⌋ from heaven/God
-or-
If we say that God sent John ⌊to baptize people⌋
-or-
If we say, “God sent John ⌊to baptize people⌋.”

If you need to make the reply From heaven into a complete sentence, use wording that agrees with what you used in 20:4.

If we say: The Jewish leaders were not certain how they should answer Jesus. Here they introduced one possible answer. Other ways to introduce it are:

Suppose we say
-or-
We could answer
-or-
Should we reply…?
-or-
We can’t say… (Contemporary English Version)

Introduce the possible answer in a way that is natural in your language.

20:5c

He will ask, ‘Why did you not believe him?’: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as ask is a general verb that means “say.” Here the Jewish leaders guessed how Jesus would reply to them if they said “From heaven.” Some versions translate this as indirect speech. For example:

he will ask why we didn’t believe John (New Living Translation (2004))

Translate it in a natural way in your language.

Why did you not believe him?: This is a rhetorical question. It expresses a rebuke. The Jewish leaders thought that if they admitted that John’s authority was from God, Jesus would rebuke them. He would tell them that they should have believed what John told them.

Some ways to translate this rebuke are:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

Why did you not believe him? (New Revised Standard Version)

• As a statement or exclamation. For example:

Then you should have believed him!
-or-
You should not have rejected his message.
-or-
…he will say that we should have believed him.

Translate this rebuke in a way that is natural in your language. In some languages it may be natural to introduce the rebuke with a word or phrase. For example:

Then why did you not believe him? (New Century Version)
-or-

⌊If you knew that God gave him the authority,⌋ you should have believed him.

believe him: The phrase believe him refers here to believing that what John said was true. The chief priests and the scribes did not believe what John preached. They rejected his teaching. They did not repent of their sins and allow John to baptize them, and they did not believe what John said about Jesus. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

accept his ⌊message⌋
-or-
agree that what he said was true

See believe, Meaning 1, in the Glossary.

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