Matthew 23:33

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

31So you are speaking against yourselves. You show that you are the sons of those people who killed God's prophets. 32Now you must finish the work that your ancestors began to do! You are like a family of dangerous snakes! You will not be able to run away. God will surely punish you, and he will send you to hell. 34So listen to this. God says, “I will send prophets to you. I will also send to you people who know many things. And I will send people to teach you what is true. But you will kill some of these people. You will kill some of them on a cross. In the places where you meet to pray, you will hit some of them with whips. They will run from one town to another town, but you will follow them.” 35Because of all this, God will punish you for all the good people that you and your ancestors have killed. Long ago, Abel was the first of those good people. You also killed Zechariah, the son of Berekiah. He died in the yard of the temple near the altar.

Matthew 23:33 word by word

ὄφεις γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, πῶς φύγητε ἀπὸ τῆς κρίσεως τῆς γεέννης;Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• serpentsὄφιςophis · snakeG3789
• generationγέννημαgennēma · offspringG1081
• of vipersἔχιδναechidna · snakeG2191
• how canπῶςpōs · how?!G4459
• ye escapeφεύγωpheugō · to fleeG5343
• ·ἀπόapo · away fromG575
• the damnationὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• the damnationκρίσιςkrisis · judgmentG2920
• of hellγέενναgeenna · hell: GehennaG1067

Cross-references for Matthew 23:33

• Matthew 3:7Many Pharisees and Sadducees came to John. They wanted John to baptize them. He said to them, ‘You are like dangerous snakes. God is angry. You are trying to run away from him. But he will soon punish people like you.
• Matthew 12:34You are like the children of dangerous snakes. You cannot say good things when your thoughts are bad. When you speak, your words show what is in your mind.
• Matthew 21:34When it was nearly time for the harvest, the master sent his servants to speak to the farmers. He wanted them to give him the fruit that was his.
• Genesis 3:15I will cause you and the woman to become enemies. Your descendants and her descendants will always be enemies. One of her descendants will attack your head. You will attack his heel.’
• Psalms 58:3Wicked people do wrong things from their birth. As soon as they are born, they start telling lies.
• Isaiah 57:3The Lord says, ‘But you magicians, come here! You use magic to learn about future times. You are the family of an adulteress and a prostitute.
• Luke 3:7Crowds of people were going out into the wilderness. They wanted John to baptize them. He told them, ‘You are like dangerous snakes! God is angry. You are trying to run away from him. But he will soon punish people like you.
• John 8:44You belong to your father, the Devil, and you want to do the things that he wants. From the beginning, he has been someone who murders people. He refuses to accept the truth, because there is nothing true in him. When he tells lies, he is showing what he is really like. He always tells lies. He is the father of all lies.
• 2 Corinthians 11:3Remember how the snake deceived Eve. Because he was clever, she believed his lies. I am afraid that the same thing might happen to you. False teachers may make you believe wrong things. Then you will no longer love Christ in a pure and honest way.
• Revelation 12:9Michael and his angels threw the great dragon out of heaven. The dragon is called the Devil or Satan. He is the snake who has been there since long ago. He tells lies to deceive the whole world. They threw him down to the earth, together with all his angels.
• Matthew 23:14[It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You take things away from women after their husbands have died. You pray for a long time so that other people will praise you. God will punish you much more than other people.]
• Hebrews 2:3As for us, God has shown us the way that he will save us from our sins. So we must not forget God's message about his great way to save us. If we do, he will certainly punish us. The Lord Jesus himself first spoke that message about how God would save people. Then the people who heard Jesus told the message to us. That is how we know that it is true.
• Hebrews 10:29So think about a person who has turned against the Son of God. That person's punishment will surely be much worse! He says that Christ's sacrifice has no value for him. He has made God's new agreement seem like something bad. It was Christ's death on the cross that made that person clean, so that he belonged to God. But now that person has insulted God's Spirit, who brings God's kind help to us.
• Hebrews 12:25So be careful! Always be ready to listen when God speaks. God used Moses as his servant on the earth to speak to Israel's people. When they refused to obey, God punished them. They could not get away. As for us, God speaks to us from heaven. So we will certainly not get away from God's punishment if we turn away from him.

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

• Church
• Ecclesiasticism
• Escape
• Hell
• Hypocrisy
• Judgments
• Pharisees
• Punishment
• Responsibility
• Satire
• Sin
• Teachers
• Viper
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• Abase
• Bewray
• Devour
• Exalt
• Fill
• Gehenna
• Gnat
• Hell
• Hinnom
• Ought

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