When John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him to be baptized, he said to them, "You snakes---who told you that you could escape from the punishment God is about to send?

You snakes---how can you say good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent his slaves to the tenants to receive his share of the harvest.

The tenants grabbed his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel."

Evildoers go wrong all their lives; they tell lies from the day they are born.

which does not hear the voice of the snake charmer, or the chant of the clever magician.

Come here to be judged, you sinners! You are no better than sorcerers, adulterers, and prostitutes.

Who are you making fun of ? Who are you liars jeering at?

Crowds of people came out to John to be baptized by him. "You snakes!" he said to them. "Who told you that you could escape from the punishment God is about to send?

You are the children of your father, the Devil, and you want to follow your father's desires. From the very beginning he was a murderer and has never been on the side of truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is only doing what is natural to him, because he is a liar and the father of all lies.

I am afraid that your minds will be corrupted and that you will abandon your full and pure devotion to Christ---in the same way that Eve was deceived by the snake's clever lies.

The huge dragon was thrown out---that ancient serpent, named the Devil, or Satan, that deceived the whole world. He was thrown down to earth, and all his angels with him.

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How, then, shall we escape if we pay no attention to such a great salvation? The Lord himself first announced this salvation, and those who heard him proved to us that it is true.

What, then, of those who despise the Son of God? who treat as a cheap thing the blood of God's covenant which purified them from sin? who insult the Spirit of grace? Just think how much worse is the punishment they will deserve!

Be careful, then, and do not refuse to hear him who speaks. Those who refused to hear the one who gave the divine message on earth did not escape. How much less shall we escape, then, if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven!