²⁴ And Jesus answered and^[a] said to them, “I also will ask you one question. If you tell the answer^[b] to me, I also will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ²⁵ From where was the baptism of John—from heaven or from men?” And they began to discuss^[c] this^[d] among themselves, saying, “If we say ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the crowd, because they all look upon John as a prophet.”