Matthew Chapter 23 verse 33 Holy Bible
Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell?
read chapter 23 in ASV
You snakes, offspring of snakes, how will you be kept from the punishment of hell?
read chapter 23 in BBE
Serpents, offspring of vipers, how should ye escape the judgment of hell?
read chapter 23 in DARBY
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
read chapter 23 in KJV
read chapter 23 in WBT
You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?
read chapter 23 in WEB
`Serpents! brood of vipers! how may ye escape from the judgment of the gehenna?
read chapter 23 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 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.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(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?
