Matthew 3:7

Matthew 3:7 is the seventh verse of the third chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse occurs in the section introducing John the Baptist. In this verse he attacks the Pharisees and Sadducees.

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

The World English Bible translates the passage as:

The original Greek of the key phrase "generation of vipers" is γεννημα εχιδνων (which also occurs in Matthew 12:34). For a collection of other versions see BibleRef Matthew 3:7

This verse is the beginning of a tirade by John the Baptist. This lecture is also found in Luke, with this verse being very similar to Luke 3:7. This section is not found in Mark and most scholars believe that Matthew and Luke are both copying from the hypothetical Q. The most important difference between Matthew and Luke is that in Luke John the Baptist is speaking to the multitude that have come to see him, while Matthew has him addressing the Pharisees and Sadducees in particular.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were two powerful and competing factions within Judaism at the time. Throughout the New Testament, and especially in Matthew, the Pharisees are presented as opponents of Jesus and responsible for his crucifixion. Some versions translate the passage as saying they were coming "for baptism." The wording is ambiguous but based on the rest of the text most scholars feel that it is more appropriate to say they were coming "to the baptism" likely to observe and investigate this new movement, rather than to be baptized themselves. Jones notes that as the entrenched powers both groups would have reason to be deeply interested in new mass movements such as John's. However, the two acting in concert is, according to Hill, quite ahistorical as the Pharisees and Sadducees were long and bitter rivals. The two groups reappear as a pair in Matthew 16. An alternative view is that the Pharisees and Sadducees are coming to be baptized, and that this reflects the mass popularity of John's program. it also incites his attack as he does not believe that many of those coming to him have truly repented. This would also close the distance between Matthew's speech directed at the Pharisees and Sadducees and Luke's to John's audience in general.

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