Viper

How Nave’s arranged it

• A serpentJob 20:16Isaiah 30:6Isaiah 59:5
• Fastens on Paul' s handActs 28:3
• See Serpent
• FIGURATIVEMatthew 3:7Matthew 23:33Luke 3:7

The passages, in Bible order (7)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 7 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Job 20:16

   He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him.

   ›Commentary on Job 20:162 voices

   “Ver. 16. He shall suck the head of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him. 19. The 'asp' is a small serpent, but the 'viper' hath more length of body. And asps produce eggs, and their young are hatched from the eggs. But when vipers have conceived, their 'young ravin in their womb, which bursting the parents' sides issue out of their bellies. Hence too it is called the 'viper,' because it is a 'parent by violence.'

   “He shall suck the poison of asps - That delicious morsel, that secret, easily-besetting sin, so palatable, and so pleasurable, shall act on the life of his soul, as the poison of asps would do on the life of his body. The poison is called the gall of asps, it being anciently supposed that the poison of serpents consists in their gall, which is thought to be copiously exuded when those animals are enraged; as it has been often seen that their bite is not poisonous when they are not angry.

   Everything gathered on Job 20:16→

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2. Isaiah 30:6

   This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people of no profit to them.

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 30:62 voices

   “(Verse 6a) The burden of the beasts of the south. In Hebrew it is called Massa Beemoth (Al. Behemoth) of the Negeb, which the Septuagint translated as 'The Vision of the Quadrupeds in the Desert'.

   “The burden - משא massa seems here to be taken in its proper sense; the load, not the oracle. The same subject is continued; and there seems to be no place here for a new title to a distinct prophecy. Does not burden of the beasts of the South in this place relate to the presents sent by Hoshea king of Israel to the South - to Egypt, which lay south of Judea, to engage the Egyptians to succor him against the king of Assyria?

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 30:6→

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3. Isaiah 59:5

   They hatch the eggs of vipers and weave a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die; crack one open, and a viper is hatched.

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 59:52 voices

   “Though the viper is viviparous (from which "vi-per" is derived), yet during gestation, the young are included in eggs, which break at the birth [BOCHART]; however, metaphors often combine things without representing everything to the life.

   “(Verse 5, 6.) They conceived labor and gave birth to iniquity: they broke the eggs of vipers and wove spider webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and what is hatched will break out into a viper. Their webs will not be turned into clothing, nor will they be covered with their works. LXX: For they bring forth pain and generate iniquity. They broke the eggs of vipers and wove spider webs.

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 59:5→

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4. Matthew 3:7

   But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

   ›Commentary on Matthew 3:72 voices

   “They were a viperous gang, they were all alike; though enemies to one another, yet confederate in mischief. Note, A wicked generation is a generation of vipers, and they ought to be told so; it becomes the ministers of Christ to be bold in showing sinners their true character. The alarm he gives them is, Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

   These verses describe the ministry of John the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ: it is a ministry that deserves close attention. Few preachers ever produced such effects as John the Baptist: “There went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan.”None ever received such praise from the great head of the church: Jesus called him “a burning and a shining light” ( John 5:35 ); the great Bishop of souls Himself declared, that “among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.”

   Everything gathered on Matthew 3:7→

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5. Matthew 23:33

   You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?

   ›Commentary on Matthew 23:332 voices

   “We have in these verses the charges of our Lord against the Jewish teachers, ranged under eight heads. Standing in the midst of the temple, with a listening crowd around him, he publicly denounces the main errors of the scribes and the Pharisees, in unsparing terms. Eight times he uses the solemn expression, “Woe unto you;” seven times he calls them “hypocrites;” twice he speaks of them as “blind guides”—twice as “fools and blind”—once as “serpents! And a generation of vipers!” Let us mark that language well. It teaches a solemn lesson.

   “(v. 33) Serpents, ((Al. additur et)) offspring of vipers, how can you escape the judgment of Gehenna? This very thing John the Baptist also said (Luke III). Therefore, just as vipers give birth to vipers, so you, he says, are born of murderers fathers, are murderers.

   Everything gathered on Matthew 23:33→

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6. Luke 3:7

   Then John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

   ›Commentary on Luke 3:72 voices

   “We see these men through the compassion of God, inspired with prudence to seek repentance of their crimes, dreading with wise devotion the terror of the judgment to come. Or perhaps, according to the precept, Be ye wise as serpents, (Matt. 10:16.) they are shown to have a natural prudence, who perceive what is coming, and earnestly desire help, though they still forsake not what is hurtful.

   “In Matthew he is said to have preached these same things to many of the Pharisees and Sadducees, that came to his baptism ( Matt. iii. 7-10 ); but here he is said to have spoken them to the multitude, that came forth to be baptized of him,

   Everything gathered on Luke 3:7→

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7. Acts 28:3

   Paul gathered a bundle of sticks, and as he laid them on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself to his hand.

   ›Commentary on Acts 28:32 voices

   “Beasts bear witness to the faith. Hast thou confidence in the Lord? "Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk and thou shalt trample under feet the lion and the dragon." With faith thou hast the power to walk upon serpents and scorpions. Do you not see that the viper which attached itself to the hand of Paul, whilst he gathered sticks, did not injure him, because it found the saint full of faith? If you have not faith, do not fear beasts so much as your faithlessness, which renders you susceptible of all corruption.

   “Had gathered a bundle of sticks - For the purpose of making a fire. There came a viper - A poisonous serpent. See the notes on Mat 3:7. The viper was doubtless in the bundle of sticks or limbs of trees which Paul had gathered, but was concealed, and was torpid. But when the bundle was laid on the fire, the viper became warmed by the heat, and came out and fastened on the hand of Paul. And fastened on his hand - καθῆψεν kathēpsen. This word properly means to join oneself to; to touch; to adhere to.

   Everything gathered on Acts 28:3→

   Verse page →Original language →