en_tn_condensed/luk/20/07.md

So they answered

"So the chief priests, scribes and elders answered." The word "so" marks an event that happened because of something else that happened first. In this case, they had reasoned with themselves (Luke 20:5-6), and they did not have an answer they wanted to say.

they answered that they did not know where it came from.

This could be stated as a direct quote. Alternate translation: "they said, 'We do not know where it came from.'" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-quotations)

where it came from

"where John's baptism came from." Alternate translation: "where John's authority to baptize came from" or "who authorized John to baptize people"