Luke 20:40 kjv
And after that they durst not ask him any question at all.
Luke 20:40 nkjv
But after that they dared not question Him anymore.
Luke 20:40 niv
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Luke 20:40 esv
For they no longer dared to ask him any question.
Luke 20:40 nlt
And then no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Luke 20 40 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Mt 22:46 | "And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day... dared to ask him further questions." | Parallel account of opponents silenced. |
| Mk 12:34 | "And no one dared to ask him any more questions." | Direct Synoptic parallel. |
| Lk 20:26 | "And they were not able to catch him in what he said... And they were silent." | Preceding instance of their silence after trying to trap Him. |
| Jn 7:46 | "No one ever spoke like this man!" | Testimony to Jesus' unique wisdom and speaking authority. |
| Jn 8:29 | "The Father who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone..." | Jesus' divine wisdom and authority from the Father. |
| Acts 4:13 | "When they saw the boldness of Peter and John... they recognized that they had been with Jesus." | The opponents' awe at apostles' wisdom, echoing Jesus'. |
| Acts 6:10 | "They could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking." | Stephen's wisdom, showing divine empowerment in speaking truth. |
| Prov 1:7 | "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge..." | The foundation of true wisdom, contrasted with their fear/silence. |
| Prov 2:6 | "For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." | Source of true wisdom, highlighting Jesus as God's Word. |
| Isa 29:21 | "who with a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare..." | Prophetic irony: They tried to ensnare Jesus but failed. |
| Jer 23:29 | "Is not my word like fire... and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?" | The powerful, irrefutable nature of God's word through Jesus. |
| 1 Cor 1:25 | "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." | God's wisdom transcends human wisdom, confounding the 'wise'. |
| 1 Cor 1:27 | "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise..." | God uses unexpected means to confound the world's wisdom. |
| Col 2:3 | "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." | All wisdom resides in Christ, making Him unanswerable. |
| Heb 4:12 | "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword..." | The piercing power of divine truth, which exposes their motives. |
| Job 5:12 | "He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success." | God thwarts the plans of the wicked. |
| Psa 107:42 | "The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth." | Righteous triumph leads to the silencing of evil. |
| Psa 14:1 | "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" | The folly of those who reject God's truth is exposed. |
| Jn 10:42 | "And many believed in him there." | Contrast: While opponents are silenced, others believe Jesus' words. |
| Jn 12:37 | "Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him." | Despite undeniable evidence, their rejection persisted, leading to this final silence. |
Luke 20 verses
Luke 20 40 Meaning
Luke 20:40 marks a significant turning point in the confrontation between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders. After several attempts to trap Him with questions concerning His authority, tribute to Caesar, and the resurrection, this verse states that the religious leaders (scribes, chief priests, Sadducees) ceased daring to interrogate Jesus further. It signifies their intellectual and theological defeat at Jesus’s unassailable wisdom and authority, as they could find no way to catch Him in His words or challenge His teachings successfully.
Luke 20 40 Context
Luke 20:40 concludes a series of intensely charged interrogations faced by Jesus in the Jerusalem Temple courts during the final week before His crucifixion. Prior to this verse, Jesus had confronted the religious elite (chief priests, scribes, elders, Pharisees, Sadducees) regarding His authority (Lk 20:1-8), the parables exposing their rejection of God's messengers (Lk 20:9-19), the legal/political trap concerning taxes to Caesar (Lk 20:20-26), and the Sadducees' theological challenge about the resurrection (Lk 20:27-39). Each encounter saw Jesus not only deflecting their traps but also turning the questions back on them, revealing their spiritual blindness, hypocrisy, and lack of true understanding of Scripture and God's power. Their ultimate silence in verse 40 signifies their complete inability to intellectually or rhetorically defeat Him, prompting them to resort to other means to silence Him—namely, plotting His arrest and death.
Luke 20 40 Word analysis
- For (οὐ γὰρ - ou gar): "For" or "Because." This particle connects the previous narrative of Jesus’s unanswerable responses to the subsequent cessation of questions from the religious leaders. It indicates that their silence was a direct result of their previous failures.
- they (αὐτοὶ - autoi): Refers specifically to the chief priests, scribes, and Sadducees, who had collectively attempted to trap Jesus.
- no longer (οὐκέτι - ouketi): A strong adverbial negation, meaning "no more" or "not any longer." It emphasizes a complete and final cessation of their efforts to question Jesus. Their attempts have reached an absolute end.
- dared (ἐτόλμων - etolmon): From the verb tolmaō, meaning "to dare," "to venture," "to be courageous," or "to presume." This word suggests that their previous interrogations were not merely attempts to understand, but bold and audacious challenges to Jesus' authority and claims. Their daring had been consistently met with Jesus' superior wisdom, eventually breaking their nerve. The imperfect tense indicates an ongoing, repeated daring that has now come to a definitive halt.
- to ask (ἐπερωτᾶν - eperōtan): To question, inquire, or interrogate. This often implies a probing, perhaps even hostile, inquiry rather than a simple seeking of information. They aimed to corner Jesus with His own words.
- him (αὐτόν - auton): Referring to Jesus, highlighting that it was His specific responses and divine insight that left them speechless and defeated.
- any question (οὐδὲν ἐπερωτῆσαι - ouden eperōtēsai): Literally, "not even one thing to ask." This powerful double negation (ouden and ouketi) further underscores the completeness of their defeat. There was nothing left they could conceive to ask that would trap Him, expose Him, or humble Him.
Words-group by words-group analysis:
- "For they no longer dared": This phrase dramatically encapsulates the turning tide in the debates. The repeated failures shattered their courage and audacity, leading to a permanent shift in their approach to Jesus. Their initial confidence, rooted in their perceived religious and intellectual superiority, was utterly broken.
- "to ask him any question": This signifies Jesus' absolute intellectual victory over His opponents. Their extensive theological and legal knowledge proved futile against His divine wisdom. It marks the end of rhetorical combat and, implicitly, foreshadows their move towards physical coercion to eliminate Him. This phrase shows that Jesus' answers not only evaded their traps but comprehensively exposed their flawed understanding and malevolent intentions, leaving them utterly disarmed.
Luke 20 40 Bonus section
- This verse effectively marks the end of the public debate phase between Jesus and the Jewish authorities in Luke's narrative. From this point forward, the narrative focuses on their intensified resolve to arrest and execute Him, as direct questioning proved futile.
- The scene highlights the power of truth and divine wisdom against human cunning and intellectual arrogance. Despite all their combined scholarly and religious training, the elite were incapable of withstanding Jesus.
- The silence of the religious leaders is not only an acknowledgment of Jesus’s brilliance but also an implicit judgment on their hardened hearts; even confronted with irrefutable truth, they chose continued rejection rather than submission.
- This verse also fulfills aspects of Old Testament prophecies regarding God's power to confound the wise of the world (e.g., Job 5:12, Isa 29:14, 1 Cor 1:19-20).
Luke 20 40 Commentary
Luke 20:40 is the climactic summary of Jesus's intellectual and spiritual victory over the combined opposition of Jerusalem's religious hierarchy. Through a series of masterful responses to their cunning questions, Jesus had exposed their ignorance of Scripture, their legalistic blindness, their hypocrisy, and their lack of true faith. The Sadducees, known for their sharp intellect and rejection of the resurrection, were particularly humiliated by Jesus's logical and biblically profound refutation, silencing them completely in the previous verses (Lk 20:39). This verse universalizes that defeat, stating that all their previous daring, calculated attempts to discredit Jesus through verbal combat ceased. It underscores Jesus's unassailable wisdom, which derived from His divine nature and perfect communion with the Father. Their silence was not born of conviction or repentance but of utter defeat, frustration, and mounting animosity, signifying a shift from public debate to the secret plotting that would lead to His passion.