Matthew 3:7

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Summary

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?

The pharisees

O generation

Flee

Revelation 6:16

General references

Proverbs 27:12

Bible References

The pharisees

For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

When the Pharisees heard this, they said, “The man drives out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”

Then the disciples came up and told Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard this statement?”

Then Jesus told them, “Watch out and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to trap Him by what He said.

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You lock up the kingdom of heaven from people. For you don’t go in, and you don’t allow those entering to go in.

(For the Pharisees, in fact all the Jews, will not eat unless they wash their hands ritually, keeping the tradition of the elders.

Then He commanded them: “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”

Then they sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to Him to trap Him by what He said.

But since the Pharisees and experts in the law had not been baptized by him, they rejected the plan of God for themselves.)

But the Lord said to him: “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and evil.

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and scoffing at Him.

The Pharisee took his stand

and was praying like this: ‘God, I thank You that I’m not like other people —greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.

Then the temple police came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why haven’t you brought Him?”

Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and asked Him, “We aren’t blind too, are we?”

Now as they were speaking to the people, the priests, the commander of the temple police, and the Sadducees confronted them,

Then the high priest took action. He and all his colleagues, those who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.

But some of the believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses!”

When Paul realized that one part of them were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he cried out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees! I am being judged because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead!”

They had previously known me for quite some time, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I lived as a Pharisee.

O generation

Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.

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

I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.

The wicked go astray from the womb;
liars err from birth.

But come here,
you sons of a sorceress,
offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute!

They hatch viper’s eggs
and weave spider’s webs.
Whoever eats their eggs will die;
crack one open, and a viper is hatched.

He then said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.

This is how God’s children—and the Devil’s children—are made evident.

Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother.

So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan,

the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.

Flee

Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath.

and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from His glorious strength

so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.

And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb,

General references

A sensible person sees danger and takes cover;
the inexperienced keep going and are punished.