What Does Luke 3:7 Mean in the King James?
Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
“Generation” is literally “offspring,” so John’s charge reaches the brood’s source as he asks who made the coming danger visible.
THE MEANING
The verse confronts the reader with a crowd already moving toward immersion, yet still named as a brood of vipers and challenged about fleeing the coming anger. The warning makes danger present before it arrives; simply being at the water does not answer the question.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A religious act by itself proves that a person has escaped the danger ahead.
THE ROOT
γεννήματα
gennēmata
GROWS FROM
γενν- (genn-), from γεννάω (gennaō)
to beget, to bring forth offspring
“generation” in this verse is gennēmata. The Greek word means offspring or brood, bringing the image of birth into John’s charge. He names the crowd as what comes forth from vipers, not simply as people living in a particular era.
ALSO GROWS
gennaō: to beget, give birth
γεννάω
This is the act behind the image of offspring: something is brought forth from a source.
gennētos: born, begotten
γεννητός
This branch makes the source-and-origin quality of the word family explicit.
gennēsis: birth, coming into being
γέννησις
It names the coming-forth that makes John’s image of a brood more pointed than the English word “generation” alone.
ὑπέδειξεν
hypedeixen
GROWS FROM
δεικ- (deik-), from δείκνυμι (deiknymi)
to show, point out
“warned” in this verse is hypedeixen. The verb carries the sense of showing or pointing out, so the question presses on who made the danger visible enough for the crowd to flee. The warning is more than a sound heard; it is a danger recognized.
ALSO GROWS
deiknymi: to show, point out
δείκνυμι
This is the core action inside the question: someone has made the coming danger perceptible.
hypodeigma: example, pattern
ὑπόδειγμα
An example shows a pattern; the same show-root connects John’s warning to what is made visible.
apodeixis: demonstration, proof
ἀπόδειξις
This branch names a showing that makes something evident, sharpening the force of “who showed you?”
βαπτισθῆναι
baptisthēnai
GROWS FROM
βαπτίζω (baptizō), from βαπ- (bap-)
to immerse, dip
“to be baptized” in this verse is baptisthēnai. The crowd comes to be immersed, but John keeps that movement distinct from fleeing the coming anger. The water does not make his question disappear; the sentence holds immersion and danger together.
ALSO GROWS
baptō: to dip, immerse
βάπτω
This related verb carries the concrete image of dipping that lies beneath immersion.
baptismos: washing, immersion
βαπτισμός
This noun names a washing or immersion, linking the crowd’s purpose to the physical act of entering water.
THE PATTERN
A warning makes danger visible while there is still a way to flee its outcome.
A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.THE THREAD
And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.Both verses use ὀργή (orgē, anger or wrath) for the danger: Luke’s question says to flee from it, while this verse says Jesus delivers from it. The shared word places the warning beside a stated source of deliverance.
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