Matthew 23:33

English Standard Version

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

Parallel Translations

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

King James Version (1611)
Yee serpents, yee generation of vipers, How can yee escape the damnation of hell?

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

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

New Century Version
"You are snakes! A family of poisonous snakes! How are you going to escape God's judgment?

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

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?

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

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

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

Complete Jewish Bible
"You snakes! Sons of snakes! How can you escape being condemned to Gei-Hinnom?

Darby Translation
Serpents, offspring of vipers, how should ye escape the judgment of hell?

Easy-to-Read Version
"You are snakes! You are from a family of poisonous snakes! You will not escape God. You will all be judged guilty and go to hell!

Geneva Bible (1587)
O serpents, the generation of vipers, howe should ye escape the damnation of hell!

George Lamsa Translation
O you serpents, and seed of scorpions! how can you flee from the judgment of hell?

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

Lexham English Bible
Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How will you escape from the condemnation to hell?

Literal Translation
Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How shall you escape the judgment of Hell?

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

Bible in Basic English
You snakes, offspring of snakes, how will you be kept from the punishment of hell?

Hebrew Names Version
You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehinnom?

International Standard Version
You snakes, you children of serpents! How can you escape being condemned to hell?Gehenna; a Gk. transliteration of the Heb. for Valley of Hinnom">[fn]Matthew 3:7; 12:34;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
Serpents, birth of vipers ! how will you escape from the judgment of gihana ?

Murdock Translation
Ye serpents, ye race of vipers: how can ye escape the condemnation of hell?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Ye serpentes, ye generation of vipers, howe wyll ye escape the dampnation of hell?

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

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

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

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

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Ye eddris, and eddris briddis, hou schulen ye fle fro the doom of helle?

Update Bible Version
You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how shall you escape the judgment of hell?

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

New English Translation
You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

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

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

New Life Bible
You snakes! You family of snakes! How can you be kept from hell?

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

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Serpents! broods of vipers! how should ye flee from the judgment of gehenna?

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

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

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Yee serpentes and generacion of vipers how shuld ye scape ye dapnacio of hell?

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

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
O ye serpentes, O ye generacion of vypers, how wyl ye escape the damnacion of Hell?

Mace New Testament (1729)
ye serpents, ye brood of vipers, how can ye escape the punishment of Gehenna?

THE MESSAGE
"Snakes! Reptilian sneaks! Do you think you can worm your way out of this? Never have to pay the piper? It's on account of people like you that I send prophets and wise guides and scholars generation after generation—and generation after generation you treat them like dirt, greeting them with lynch mobs, hounding them with abuse.

Simplified Cowboy Version
You're all coyotes! You're the bastard sons of coyotes! How are you gonna escape the truck that leads to the slaughterhouse?

Contextual Overview

¹³ "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" ¹⁴Seven Woes to the Scribes and Pharisees Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. ¹⁵ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. ¹⁶ "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' ¹⁷ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? ¹⁸ And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.' ¹⁹ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. ²² And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

serpents: Matthew 3:7, Matthew 12:34, Matthew 21:34, Matthew 21:35, Genesis 3:15, Psalms 58:3-5, Isaiah 57:3, Isaiah 57:4, Luke 3:7, John 8:44, 2 Corinthians 11:3, Revelation 12:9

how: Matthew 23:14, Hebrews 2:3, Hebrews 10:29, Hebrews 12:25

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 32:22 - lowest Psalms 2:5 - Then Psalms 58:4 - serpent Isaiah 1:4 - a seed Isaiah 20:6 - and how Isaiah 59:12 - our transgressions Jeremiah 44:14 - shall escape Lamentations 4:13 - that Ezekiel 17:15 - shall he escape Ezekiel 22:4 - and thou hast Matthew 26:4 - by Mark 12:40 - long Luke 6:39 - shall Luke 16:23 - in hell Acts 2:40 - untoward Acts 28:3 - came Romans 2:3 - that thou shalt 1 Corinthians 6:10 - thieves Galatians 5:9 - General 1 Thessalonians 5:3 - and they

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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 of their wickedness, malice, and deceit. The Persic version reads it, "where can ye escape?" c. and so Beza says it was read, in one ancient copy of his and the sense is, whither can ye flee? to whom, or what can you have recourse to, to screen you from the wrath to come? Rocks and mountains, caves and dens, will be of no service. The phrase,

דינה של גיהנם, "the judgment, or damnation of hell", is a phrase often used in the Talmud p, and Midrashes q of the Jews; and intends future torment, and the everlasting vengeance and wrath of God, the unquenchable fire prepared for the devil and his angels, and which impenitent unbelieving sinners cannot escape.

p T. Bab. Berncot, fol. 61. 1. Erubin, fol. 18. 2. Yebamot, fol. 102. 2. Sota, fol. 4. 2. & 5. 1. & Bava Bathra, fol. 10. 1. q Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 203. 1. Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 14. 2. & Midrash Kohelet, fol. 76. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ye 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 this course, it was impossible to escape the damnation that should come on the guilty. This is the sternest language that Jesus ever used to wicked people. But it by no means authorizes ministers to use such language to sinners now. Christ knew that this was true of them. He had an authority which none now have. It is not the province of ministers to denounce judgment, or to use severe names, least of all to do it on pretence of imitating Christ. He knew the hearts of people. We know them not. He had authority to declare certainly that those whom he addressed would be lost. We have no such authority. He addressed persons; we address characters.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 33. Ye 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 that sleen her modris. There seems to be here an allusion to a common opinion, that the young of the adder or viper which are brought forth alive eat their way through the womb of their mothers. Hence that ancient enigma attributed to LACTANTIUS: -

Non possum nasci, si non occidero matrem.

Occidi matrem: sed me manet exitus idem.

Id mea mors faciet, quod jam mea fecit origo.

Cael. Firm. Symposium, N. xv.

I never can be born, nor see the day,

Till through my parent's womb I eat my way.

Her I have slain; like her must yield my breath;

For that which gave me life, shall cause my death.

Every person must see with what propriety this was applied to the Jews, who were about to murder the very person who gave them their being and all their blessings.