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33 You [a]serpents, you spawn of vipers, how can you escape the penalty of hell?

34 “Therefore, take notice, I am sending you prophets and wise men [interpreters, teachers] and scribes [men educated in the Mosaic Law and the writings of the prophets]; some of them you will kill and even crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues, and pursue and persecute from city to city, 35 so that on you will come the guilt of all the blood of the righteous shed on earth, from the blood of righteous [b]Abel to the blood of Zechariah [the priest], the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 23:33 The serpent is the creature used by Satan to introduce evil into the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:1ff). Here Jesus continues the imagery of Satan as the serpent working through the religious leaders to continue the propagation of evil through deception, false teaching, and man-made laws and traditions which are given priority over God’s law.
  2. Matthew 23:35 I.e. the first and last martyrs recorded in the Hebrew text.

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