What Does Matthew 3:7 Mean in the King James?
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 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
John’s question makes “warned” a question of who showed them the way out, so coming to the water is framed as a response to danger rather than proof of safety.
THE MEANING
You hear John name those coming to the immersion a brood of vipers and ask who showed them to flee the wrath ahead. Their arrival at the water sits beside the danger they seek to escape; being near the water does not itself settle whether they are safe.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Approaching a religious rite or belonging to a respected religious group guarantees safety from the judgment ahead.
THE ROOT
ὑπέδειξεν
hypedeixen
GROWS FROM
δεικ-
deik-
Show, point out, make visible.
The verb ὑποδείκνυμι (hypodeiknymi, to show or indicate) carries the sense of making something known. “Warned” conveys the alarm, while “showed” brings forward John’s question about who revealed a way to flee.
ALSO GROWS
endeiknymi: Show, indicate, demonstrate.
ἐνδείκνυμι
It shares the “show” root, making disclosure an act of pointing something out.
apodeixis: Demonstration, proof.
ἀπόδειξις
The same root can name what is displayed as evidence, linking showing with making something plain.
βάπτισμα
baptisma
GROWS FROM
βαπτ-
bapt-
Dip, immerse.
The Greek names an immersion, making the water’s concrete action audible beneath the familiar English word “baptism.” John places their approach to that immersion alongside the question of escape from coming danger.
ALSO GROWS
baptizō: Immerse.
βαπτίζω
This verb supplies the action named by the noun “baptism.”
baptō: Dip, plunge.
βάπτω
It makes the root’s physical movement into water explicit.
γενεά
genea
GROWS FROM
γεν-
gen-
Beget, come into being.
The word can refer to a generation, lineage, or kind. Joined to “vipers,” it carries the force of “brood,” casting the accusation as a claim about what kind they belong to, not only when they live.
ALSO GROWS
genos: Kind, stock, lineage.
γένος
It makes the family or kind sense in “generation” visible.
gennaō: Beget, give birth to.
γεννάω
It shows the root’s connection to origin and offspring, sharpening the image of a brood.
THE PATTERN
A warning about approaching judgment calls for movement toward refuge before the consequence arrives.
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.How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;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.Matthew’s “wrath” and this verse’s “wrath” translate the same Greek word ὀργή (orgē, anger or wrath). Here Jesus is named as the one who delivers from that coming wrath, opening John’s question toward the possibility and source of escape.
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