Knowing The Word in Matthew 23:29-36

The Final Woe

29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. [They prove themselves to be sons of their fathers. They will soon kill The Prophet.] 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers [little satans], how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? [Their flight will be futile.] 34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes [the disciples] , some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah [the first and last martyrs of the Old Testament] the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. [The coming of Jesus, and his rejection by his own people, have brought Israel’s rebellion to the point where judgment can no longer be delayed.]