Luke 20:4 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?
The dunking of John: from sky was it started it? Or from men?
Again, there is humor here. Christ names the source of baptism than asks where it comes from. As with so much of Christ's humor, we have to listen for the pause that confuses his listeners,
The Greek noun for "the baptism" appears only in the NT. However, it comes from a Greek verb that means to "dip" or "to plunge" and was used for many different ideas ranging a town being "flooded to a person being "drown" and from someone being "over their heads" in debt to "getting in deep water."
"Of John" is from the Greek form of the proper noun.
The verb "was it" here is the common form of "to be" in Greek. It means to have a certain characteristic or remain in a certain condition. It also equates terms or assigns characteristics. The tense is something started in the past, but not completed, still on-going.
The Greek preposition translated as "from" means "out of" or "from." In Greek, they use the genitive case instead of a preposition for the types of phrases with usually use with "of."
The word translated as "heaven" means sky, the climate, and the universe. It also meant the home of the gods in a physical sense: the sun, moon, and planets were named for the gods. More about the word in this article.
"Or" is translated from a Greek word that means primarily "or" but serves as "than" in a comparison.
The Greek preposition translated as "of" means "out of" or "from." In Greek, they use the genitive case instead of a preposition for the types of phrases with usually use with "of." This is same preposition as above.
The Greek word for "of man" in the singular means "person" and "humanity" and "people" and "peoples" in the plural.
Τὸ βάπτισμα (noun sg neut nom/acc) "The baptism" is from baptisma, which is only in the New Testament and means "baptism.
Ἰωάνου (Porper name) "Of John" is from Ioannes, which is the Greek form of the name "John." It has a Greek word ending for the "of".
ἐξ (prep) "From" is ek, which means 1) [of motion] "out of", "from", "by", "away from;" 2) [of place] "beyond", "outside of", "beyond;" 3) [of succession] "after", "from;" 4) [of rest] "on", "in," 5) [of time] "since", "from", "at", "in;" 5) [of materials] "out of", "made from." -- The Greek preposition translated as "of" means "out of" or "from." In Greek, they use the genitive case instead of a preposition for the types of phrases with usually use with "of."
οὐρανοῦ (noun sg masc gen) "Heaven" is from the Greek ouranos, which means "heaven as in the vault of the sky", "heaven as the seat of the gods", "the sky", "the universe," and "the climate."
ἦν ( verb 3rd sg imperf ind act) "Was it" is from eimi, which means "to be", "to exist", "to be the case," and "is possible." (The future form is esomai.)
ἢ (conj/adv) "Or" is e which is a particle meaning "either", "or," or "than." --
ἐξ (prep) "Of" is ek, which means 1) [of motion] "out of", "from", "by", "away from;" 2) [of place] "beyond", "outside of", "beyond;" 3) [of succession] "after", "from;" 4) [of rest] "on", "in," 5) [of time] "since", "from", "at", "in;" 5) [of materials] "out of", "made from."
ἀνθρώπων; (noun pl masc gen) "Of man" is from anthropos, which is "man," and, in plural, "mankind." It also means "humanity" and that which is human and opposed to that which is animal or inanimate.