Matthew 23:33
New International Version
“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

New Living Translation
Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?

English Standard Version
You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

Berean Standard Bible
You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?

Berean Literal Bible
Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How shall you escape from the sentence of Gehenna?

King James Bible
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

New King James Version
Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

New American Standard Bible
You snakes, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?

NASB 1995
“You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?

NASB 1977
“You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell?

Legacy Standard Bible
You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?

Amplified Bible
You serpents, you spawn of vipers, how can you escape the penalty of hell?

Christian Standard Bible
“Snakes! Brood of vipers! How can you escape being condemned to hell?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
“Snakes! Brood of vipers! How can you escape being condemned to hell?

American Standard Version
Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Snakes! Offspring of vipers! How will you escape from the judgment of Gehenna?

Contemporary English Version
You are nothing but snakes and the children of snakes! How can you escape going to hell?

Douay-Rheims Bible
You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of hell?

English Revised Version
Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"You snakes! You poisonous snakes! How can you escape being condemned to hell?

Good News Translation
You snakes and children of snakes! How do you expect to escape from being condemned to hell?

International Standard Version
You snakes, you children of serpents! How can you escape being condemned to hell?

Literal Standard Version
Serpents! Brood of vipers! How may you escape from the judgment of Gehenna?

Majority Standard Bible
You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?

New American Bible
You serpents, you brood of vipers, how can you flee from the judgment of Gehenna?

NET Bible
You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

New Revised Standard Version
You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell?

New Heart English Bible
You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of hell?

Webster's Bible Translation
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

Weymouth New Testament
O serpents, O vipers' brood, how are you to escape condemnation to Gehenna?

World English Bible
You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?

Young's Literal Translation
'Serpents! brood of vipers! how may ye escape from the judgment of the gehenna?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Woes to Scribes and Pharisees
32Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers. 33You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell? 34Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute in town after town.…

Cross References
Isaiah 20:6
And on that day the dwellers of this coastland will say, 'See what has happened to our source of hope, those to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?'"

Matthew 3:7
But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

Matthew 5:22
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be subject to the fire of hell.

Matthew 12:34
You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Matthew 23:32
Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers.

Luke 3:7
Then John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?


Treasury of Scripture

You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell?

serpents.

Matthew 3:7
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Matthew 12:34
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Matthew 21:34,35
And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it…

how.

Matthew 23:14
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Hebrews 2:3
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

Hebrews 10:29
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

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Brood Condemnation Condemned Damnation Escape Gehenna Generation Hell Judgment Kept Offspring Punishment Sentence Sentenced Serpents Snakes Vipers
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Brood Condemnation Condemned Damnation Escape Gehenna Generation Hell Judgment Kept Offspring Punishment Sentence Sentenced Serpents Snakes Vipers
Matthew 23
1. Jesus admonishes the people to follow good doctrine, not bad examples
5. His disciples must beware of their ambition.
13. He denounces eight woes against their hypocrisy and blindness,
34. and prophesies of the destruction of Jerusalem.














(33) Ye generation of vipers.--Better, as in Matthew 3:7, brood, or progeny of vipers. The word of rebuke which had come before from the lips of the Baptist, comes now, with even more intense keenness, from those of the Christ.

How can ye escape?--Better--to maintain the parallelism with the Baptist's words, which was, we can hardly doubt, designed--How should ye flee from?

Verses 33-39. - Declaration of the sentence on these Pharisees and their generation. Verse 33. - Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers; γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν: offspring of vipers. Our Lord repeats the Baptist's denunciation (Matthew 3:7). They were of devilish nature, inherited from their very birth the disposition and character of Satan. So Christ said on another occasion, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth" (John 8:44). How can ye escape? Πῶς φύγητε; the deliberative conjunctive, How shall ye escape? Quo mode fugietis? (Vulgate). There is no emphasis on "can" in the Authorized Version. What hope is there now of your repentance? Can anything soften the hardness of your hearts? The Baptist had spoken more hopefully, "Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" But now the day of grace is past; the sin against the Holy Ghost is committed; there remaineth only the fearful looking for of judgment. The damnation of hell; literally, the judgment of Gehenna; judicio Gehennae (Vulgate); i.e. the sentence that condemns to eternal death (Matthew 5:22). The phrase is common in the rabbinical writings (see Lightfoot). "Before sinning, we ought to fear lest it be the filling up; after sinning, we should trust in a truly Christian hope that it is not, and repent. This is the only means to escape the damnation of hell; but how rare is this grace after a pharisaical life!" (Quesnel). Hypocrisy is a bar to repentance.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
You snakes!
ὄφεις (opheis)
Noun - Vocative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3789: Probably from optanomai; a snake, figuratively, an artful malicious person, especially Satan.

You brood
γεννήματα (gennēmata)
Noun - Vocative Neuter Plural
Strong's 1081: Offspring, child, fruit. From gennao; offspring; by analogy, produce.

of vipers!
ἐχιδνῶν (echidnōn)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural
Strong's 2191: A serpent, snake, viper. Of uncertain origin; an adder or other poisonous snake.

How
πῶς (pōs)
Adverb
Strong's 4459: Adverb from the base of pou; an interrogative particle of manner; in what way?; also as exclamation, how much!

will you escape
φύγητε (phygēte)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 5343: To flee, escape, shun. Apparently a primary verb; to run away; by implication, to shun; by analogy, to vanish.

the
τῆς (tēs)
Article - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

sentence
κρίσεως (kriseōs)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 2920: Decision; by extension, a tribunal; by implication, justice.

of hell?
γεέννης (geennēs)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 1067: Of Hebrew origin; valley of Hinnom; ge-henna, a valley of Jerusalem, used as a name for the place of everlasting punishment.


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NT Gospels: Matthew 23:33 You serpents you offspring of vipers how (Matt. Mat Mt)
Matthew 23:32
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