American Standard Version
Matthew 23:33
33Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell?
Matthew 23:33 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
- New International Version (NIV)“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
- English Standard Version (ESV)You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?
Context of Matthew 23:33
31Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets. 32Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell? 34Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: 35that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar.
Read all of Matthew 23Matthew 23:33 word by word
ὄφεις γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, πῶς φύγητε ἀπὸ τῆς κρίσεως τῆς γεέννης;Read the interlinear
Cross-references for Matthew 23:33
- Matthew 3:7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said unto them, Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
- Matthew 12:34Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
- Matthew 21:34And when the season of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, to receive his fruits.
- Genesis 3:15and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
- Psalms 58:3The wicked are estranged from the womb: They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
- Isaiah 57:3But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the harlot.
- Luke 3:7He said therefore to the multitudes that went out to be baptized of him, Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
- John 8:44Ye 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 standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.
- Revelation 12:9And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.
- Hebrews 2:3how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard;
- Hebrews 10:29of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be judged 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?
- Hebrews 12:25See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not when they refused him that warned them on earth, much more shall not we escape who turn away from him that warneth from heaven:
Commentaries on Matthew 23:33
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 33Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers - What a terrible stroke! - Ye are serpents, and the offspring of serpents. This refers to Matthew 23:31; : they confessed that they were the children of those who murdered the prophets; and they are now going to murder Christ and his followers, to show that they have not degenerated - an accursed seed, of an accursed breed. My old MS. translates this passage oddly - Gee serpentis, fruytis of burrownyngis of eddris…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 33Ye serpents - This name is given to them on account of their pretending to be pious, and very much devoted to God, but being secretly evil, At the heart, with all their pretensions, they were filled with evil designs, as the serpent was, Genesis 3:1-5 Generation of vipers - See the notes at Matthew 12:34. Damnation of hell - This refers, beyond all question, to future punishment. So great was their wickedness and hypocrisy, that, if they persevered in…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 13-33Verses 13-33 The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very busy to turn souls to be of their party. Not for the glory of God and…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 13-36Matthew gathered seven warnings of sorrow to come (literally woe to you) inspired by similar Old Testament lists (Isaiah 5:8–23; Habakkuk 2:6–20). Matthew arranged them to reach a climax with the killing of the prophets.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3333. 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.Read the comment
Topics related to Matthew 23:33
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Matthew 23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Catena Aurea
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- John Lightfoot Commentary
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
American Standard Version — 1901 — Public Domain
Commentaries