What Does Matthew 21:23 Mean in the King James?
And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Their question about Jesus’ authority is really a question about its source: the Greek word carries the sense of a right to act, and they immediately ask who granted it.
THE MEANING
The live question here is what gives a voice the right to act: Jesus is teaching in the temple, and the leaders ask both what authorizes his deeds and who grants that authority. Their challenge brings the source behind his teaching into view, making authority more than a title or display of power.
THE ROOT
ἐξουσία
exousia
GROWS FROM
ἔξεστιν
exestin
The related expression means “it is permitted” or “it is possible”; exousia carries the sense of authority, right, or jurisdiction to act.
The English word can sound like sheer power, but ἐξουσία (exousia, authority or right to act) points toward whether an action is within someone’s right. The leaders ask the same question twice: what right does Jesus have, and who gave him that right?
ALSO GROWS
exestin: It is permitted; it is possible.
ἔξεστιν
This related expression brings out the question beneath the challenge: whether Jesus has the right to do what he is doing.
exousiazō: To exercise authority or have power over.
ἐξουσιάζω
The same word family moves from possessing a right to exercising it, linking Jesus’ authority to his active teaching and deeds.
ἔδωκεν
edōken
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give, grant, or place something into another’s possession.
The verb translated “gave” presents authority as something granted, with a source behind it. The challenge is not only whether Jesus acts with authority, but who confers the right he exercises.
ALSO GROWS
dosis: A giving; a gift.
δόσις
This noun makes the act of giving visible as a grant received from a source.
paradidōmi: To hand over or deliver.
παραδίδωμι
This compound shows the same giving root in the transfer of something from one party to another.
THE PATTERN
Authority is received from a source and becomes visible in the work it authorizes.
And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.THE THREAD
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.Matthew translates the same Greek word ἐξουσία (exousia, authority or right to act) as “power” here and “authority” in 21:23. The later verse names the giver and scope of the authority whose source the leaders question.
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