Devine Scripture

Matthew 23:33

What does Matthew 23:33 mean?

A plain-English look at Matthew 23:33 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Matthew 23:33 means

Jesus addresses the scribes and Pharisees with piercing condemnation, calling them "serpents" and "offspring of vipers." These animalistic terms powerfully convey their insidious, deceptive, and venomous nature, reflecting their spiritual father as the devil. He then asks a rhetorical question, "how shall ye escape the judgment of hell?" This leaves no doubt about their ultimate destiny, declaring that their hypocrisy and rejection of God's truth will inevitably lead to eternal damnation.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

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

KJV

King James Version · 1611

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

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

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

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

You snakes, offspring of snakes, how will you be kept from the punishment of hell?

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

`Serpents! brood of vipers! how may ye escape from the judgment of the gehenna?

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of hell?

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

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

Context

This verse escalates Jesus' condemnation to its most severe, using highly evocative and damning language like "serpents" and "offspring of vipers." This directly follows the ironic command to fill up their fathers' measure, underscoring the severity of their generational sin. The question of escaping "the judgment of hell" marks a stark pronouncement of their ultimate spiritual consequence, laying the groundwork for Jesus' further prophecies of persecution and judgment in the verses that follow.

v.32Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

v.33This passage

v.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:

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Hebrews 12:25

    See 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:

  • Genesis 3:15

    and 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.

  • Matthew 3:7

    But 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?

  • Hebrews 10:29

    of 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?

  • Luke 3:7

    He 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?

  • Hebrews 2:3

    how 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;

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