All you Philistines, don’t rejoice that the rod of the one who struck you is broken, because a viper will come from that snake’s root, and his descendant will be a flying, fiery serpent.
Owls will make their nests there, lay eggs, and hatch them. They will gather their young in the shadow of ⌞their wings⌟. Vultures also will gather there, each one with its mate.
But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, he said to them, “You poisonous snakes! Who showed you how to flee from God’s coming anger?