Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
| Word | Greek | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| serpents | ὄφεις opheis | G3789 | a snake · noun — vocative plural masculine |
| generation | γεννήματα gennēmata | G1081 | offspring · noun — vocative plural neuter |
| of vipers | ἐχιδνῶν, echidnōn | G2191 | an adder or other poisonous snake (literally or figurat… · noun — genitive plural feminine |
| how can | πῶς pōs | G4459 | an interrogative particle of manner · particle — interrogative |
| ye escape | φύγητε phugēte | G5343 | to run away (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist active subjunctive, 2nd person plural |
| the damnation | κρίσεως kriseōs | G2920 | decision (subjectively or objectively · noun — genitive singular feminine |
| of hell | γεέννης; geennēs | G1067 | valley of (the son of) Hinnom · noun — genitive singular feminine, a title |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?--In thus, at the end of His ministry, recalling the words of the Baptist at the outset of his, our Lord would seem to intimate that the only difference between their condemnation now and then was, that now they were ripe for their doom, which they were not then.
Ye servants, ye generation of vipers,.... The latter of these names, John the Baptist calls the Sadducees and Pharisees by, in Matthew 3:7 and Christ, in Matthew 12:34 both express their craft and subtlety, their inward poison, and venomous nature; their fair outside, and specious pretences; their hypocrisy, malice, and wickedness; in which they were like to the old serpent, their father the devil, and to their ancestors, that murdered the prophets; nor could any good thing be expected, from such a viperous generation: how can ye escape the damnation of hell? signifying, that it was impossible that they should; nor could they surely expect it themselves, who must be conscious to themselves…
Read the whole note in the consoleMatthew 23:29-39 Matthew 23:29-39 Luke 11:47-51 29. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you build the sepulchers of the prophets and embellish the monuments of the righteous, 30. And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been their associates in the blood of the prophets. 31. Thus you testify against yourselves, that you are the children of those who killed the prophets. 32. Do you also fill up the measure of your fathers. 33. Serpents, offspring of vipers, how shall you escape the judgment of hell? 34. Therefore, lo, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and some of them you will slay and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in…
Read the whole note in the consolefinish what your ancestors started: By killing God’s Messiah, they would bring to completion Israel’s history of killing God’s messengers (see 1 Thes 2:14-16).
The same had been said by John the Baptist. Wherefore as of vipers are born vipers, so of your fathers who were murderers are you born murderers.
(v. 33) Serpents, ((Al. additur et)) offspring of vipers, how can you escape the judgment of Gehenna? This very thing John the Baptist also said (Luke III). Therefore, just as vipers give birth to vipers, so you, he says, are born of murderers fathers, are murderers.
It is also in your power to cast off the image of the serpent as well. Indeed, Scripture calls the evil man a serpent and a brood of vipers. But if you seek confirmation that we are able to change and to cease being serpents, swine, or dogs, let us turn to the words of the Apostle, that the transformation depends on us. … If you were a raging beast and heard the Word, which will tame and domesticate you and which at Its own discretion will turn you into a man — you will never again hear said of you: serpent, brood of vipers. Because, if it were impossible to be rid of these serpents, the serpents residing in the soul on account of its wickedness, then the Savior (or John) would not have said: "Bring forth then fruits worthy of repentance!" Having turned, you will no longer be serpents, broods of vipers.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
