Yohanan the Immerser Demands Repentance

Matt. 3:7-10; Luke 3:7b-9

(Huck 2; Aland 14; Crook 17)^[92]

Updated: 15 January 2025

וַיַּרְא אוֹתָם וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם יְלִידֵי צִפְעֹנִים מִי הִגִּיד לָכֶם לָנוּס מֵחֲרוֹן הָאַף הֶעָתִיד לָבוֹא [עֲלֵיכֶם] עֲשׂוּ פְּרִי רָאוּי לַתְּשׁוּבָה וְאַל תַּתְחִילוּ לוֹמַר בִּלְבַבְכֶם אָבִינוּ אַבְרָהָם אֲנִי אוֹמֵר לָכֶם יָכוֹל אֵל לְהָקִים מִן הָאֲבָנִים הָאֵלּוּ בָּנִים לְאַבְרָהָם וּכְבָר הַקּוֹרְדּוֹם לְעִקָּר הָעֵצִים מוּעָד כָּל עֵץ שֶׁאֵינוֹ עוֹשֶׂה פְּרִי טוֹב נֶעֱקָר וּבָאֵשׁ נָתוּן

And seeing them approach, Yohanan the Immerser said to the crowds, “You wicked spawn of adders! Who told you that immersing yourselves would help you escape the divine anger that’s overtaking you? Was it I? If you believed me when I told you about the danger, then why don’t you believe me when I tell you about the solution? Act in a way that will bring your repentance to fruition!

“Don’t fool yourselves saying, ‘Our father is Abraham: he will deliver us.’ I assure you that from these stones God is able to raise up sons and daughters for Abraham. Already the mattock for chopping out the roots has been appointed! Every ‘tree’ that does not bear the ‘fruit’ of repentance is uprooted and burned.”^[93]

Reconstruction

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• ^[1] See Robert L. Lindsey, “From Luke to Mark to Matthew: A Discussion of the Sources of Markan ‘Pick-ups’ and the Use of a Basic Non-canonical Source by All the Synoptists,” under the subheading “Lukan Doublets: Narrative Doublets.” ↩
• ^[2] See LOY Excursus: Criteria for Distinguishing Type 1 from Type 2 Double Tradition Pericopae. ↩
• ^[3] See Burnett Hillman Streeter, “St. Mark’s Knowledge and Use of Q,” in Studies in the Synoptic Problem (ed. W. Sanday; Oxford: Clarendon, 1911), 165-183, esp. 167; Harnack, 40; McNeile, 26; Creed, 51; Montefiore, 2:14; Manson, Sayings, 39; Bultmann, 117; Bundy, 47 §2; Knox, 2:5; Beare, 38; Kilpatrick, 85; Marshall, 137; Schweizer, 48; Davies-Allison, 1:301; Hagner, 1:50; Nolland, Luke, 1:146; Luz, 1:137; Bovon, Luke, 1:122. See also John P. Meier, “John the Baptist in Matthew’s Gospel,” Journal of Biblical Literature 99.3 (1980): 383-405, esp. 389-390. ↩
• ^[4] Scholars who regard the reference to Pharisees and Sadducees in Matt. 3:7 as a Matthean insertion include Harnack, 40; Manson, Sayings, 39; Davies-Allison, 1:301; Catchpole, 8; Nolland, Matt., 142; Luz, 1:137. ↩
• ^[5] The Sadducees are mentioned in Matt. 3:7; 16:1, 6, 11, 12; 22:23, 34; Mark 12:18; Luke 20:27. Three Matthean references to the Sadducees occur in verses unique to Matthew’s Gospel (Matt. 16:11, 12; 22:34). ↩
• ^[6] Cf. Meier, “John the Baptist in Matthew’s Gospel,” 389; Davies-Allison, 1:303. ↩
• ^[7] See Tomson, If This Be, 275. ↩
• ^[8] Cf. Josephus, J.W. 2:411; Life §21, 190-193, in which the (Sadducean) high priests cooperate with the leaders of the Pharisees in an attempt to control the course of the revolt. Tomson noted that “the extreme circumstances of the war against Rome provoked all kinds of unusual coalitions.” See Peter J. Tomson, “‘Jews’ in the Gospel of John as Compared with the Palestinian Talmud, the Synoptics, and Some New Testament Apocrypha,” in Anti-Judaism and the Fourth Gospel (ed. R. Bieringer, D. Pollefeyt and F. Vandecasteele-Vanneuville; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 176-212, esp. 197. ↩
• ^[9] On the likelihood that John the Baptist regarded sin as capable of imparting ritual impurity to the sinner, see A Voice Crying, Comment to L35. ↩
• ^[10] On repentance as a core Pharisaic-rabbinic theological concept, see Shmuel Safrai, “Oral Tora,” in The Literature of the Sages (ed. Shmuel Safrai; 2 vols.; CRINT II.3; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), 1:35-119, esp. 108-111. ↩
• ^[11] Cf. David Flusser, The Spiritual History of the Dead Sea Sect (trans. Carol Glucker; Tel Aviv: MOD Books, 1989), 48. ↩
• ^[12] See R. Steven Notley, “The Kingdom of Heaven Forcefully Advances,” in The Interpretation of Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity: Studies in Language and Tradition (ed. Craig A. Evans; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000), 279-322, esp. 283. ↩
• ^[13] Pace Robert L. Webb, John the Baptizer and Prophet: A Socio-Historical Study (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1991), 175-178; Craig A. Evans, “Reconstructing Jesus’ Teaching: Problems and Possibilities,” in Hillel and Jesus: Comparative Studies of Two Major Religious Leaders (ed. James H. Charlesworth and Loren L. Johns; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1997), 397-426, esp. 398-399. Nolland (Matt., 142) noted that John’s opening question (“Who warned you to flee the coming wrath?”) presumes that the addressees really were coming to John for baptism and were not opposed to (or at least aloof from) John’s activity, as Matthew’s version implies. Catchpole (8) argued that since anyone in Israel could claim to have Abraham as their father, John’s polemics are not suited to a specialized audience of Pharisees and Sadducees, but are more properly directed to a general audience, whom John hoped to persuade by his rhetoric. ↩
• ^[14] On the redactional use of ἔλεγεν/ἔλεγον in the Gospel of Luke, see Robert L. Lindsey, “A New Two-source Solution to the Synoptic Problem,” thesis 7. ↩
• ^[15] See Nolland, Matt., 143. There is no Hebrew equivalent behind ἔκγονος (ekgonos, “offspring”) in any of the instances of ἔκγονα ἀσπίδων (“offspring of asps”) in LXX. ↩
• ^[16] See David Flusser, “The ‘Book of the Mysteries’ and the High Holy Days Liturgy” (Flusser, JSTP1, 119-139, esp. 132 n. 44). For corrections that ought to be made to this footnote, see Corrections and Emendations to Flusser’s Judaism of the Second Temple Period. ↩
• ^[17] The interpretation of this passage is extremely difficult. Working from the hypothesis that the thanksgiving hymn alludes to Isa. 59:5, Rogland proposed that למזורות should be understood as the preposition לְמִן (l^emin, “from”) prefixed to the feminine plural passive participle זוּרוֹת (zūrōt, “crushed”). See Max Rogland, “Eggs and Vipers in Isaiah 59 and the Qumran Hodayot,” Revue de Qumran 25.1 (2011): 3-16. ↩
• ^[18] On the translation of these difficult verses and their influence on the Thanksgiving Scroll, see Rogland, “Eggs and Vipers in Isaiah 59 and the Qumran Hodayot,” 3-16. ↩
• ^[19] As an alternative to יְלִידֵי, Flusser also suggested that γεννήματα (“offspring”) could be reconstructed as תּוֹלְדוֹת (tōl^edōt, “generations”). See David Flusser, “‘The Scroll of Mysteries’ from Qumran and a Prayer of the High Holy Days,” in his Judaism of the Second Temple Period: Qumran and Apocalypticism (ed. Serge Ruzer; Jerusalem: Magnes, 2002), 101-118, esp. 111-112 n. 44 (in Hebrew). An English translation of this article appears as Flusser, “The ‘Book of the Mysteries’ and the High Holy Days Liturgy” (Flusser, JSTP1, 119-139, esp. 132 n. 44), however Flusser’s alternate reconstruction was omitted from the translation of this footnote. See Corrections and Emendations to Flusser’s Judaism of the Second Temple Period.
  

  A viper photographed in Israel. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

  If we are correct in identifying an allusion to Isa. 59:5 in the Baptist’s use of the term “offspring of poisonous snakes,” then the suggestion that John the Baptist alluded to Greco-Roman traditions about vipers’ chewing their way through their mother’s wombs, which was put forward by the Church Fathers and recently championed by Keener, seems less plausible. See Craig S. Keener, “‘Brood of Vipers’ (Matthew 3.7; 12.34; 23.33),” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 28.1 (2005): 3-11. While Keener produced sources demonstrating that the legend was well known to Greek and Latin authors, he did not demonstrate that it was familiar to first-century Jews in the land of Israel. Nor did Keener produce any parallels in Second Temple sources in which the charge of parricide was leveled by one Jewish group against their opponents. On allusions to the Greco-Roman legend concerning the birth of vipers in the writings of the Church Fathers, see A. B. Bruce, 82. ↩

• ^[20] See H. B. Tristram, The Natural History of the Bible (9th ed.; London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1898), 269; Foerster, “ἔχιδνα,” TDNT, 2:815-816, esp. 815. ↩
• ^[21] The plural of צִפְעוֹנִי (“adder”) is attested in MT (Jer. 8:17) and DSS (CD-A V, 14). ↩
• ^[22] See A. B. Bruce, 82; McNeile, 27; Marshall, 139; France, Matt., 110. Tuckett pointed out that “in a desert fire, every living thing would be trying to escape,” a fact that tends to weaken the supposed connection between vipers and fleeing the wrath to come. See Christopher M. Tuckett, “John the Baptist in Q,” in his Q and the History of Early Christianity: Studies on Q (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1996), 107-137, esp. 111. ↩
• ^[23] Cf., e.g., Plummer, Luke, 89; Meier, Marginal, 2:72 n. 41. ↩
• ^[24] So Foerster, “ἔχιδνα,” TDNT, 2:816; Meier, Marginal, 2:72 n. 41; Tuckett, “John the Baptist in Q,” 111 n. 13. ↩
• ^[25] Scholars who equate “offspring of poisonous snakes” with “children of the devil” include Lightfoot (2:77), Gill (723) and Manson (Sayings, 40). Cf. J. Green, 175. And see Otto Betz, “Was John the Baptist an Essene?” Bible Review 6.6 (1990): 18-25, esp. 24, where he suggested reconstructing γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν as מַעֲשֵׂי אֶפְעֶה (ma‘^asē ’ef‘eh), a phrase that occurs in the Thanksgiving Scroll (1QH^a XI, 17), which he rendered as “creatures of the Snake” and which he suggested was equivalent to “Sons of the Devil.” We find little to commend Betz’s reconstruction. Cf. Claudia D. Bergmann, Childbirth as a Metaphor for Crisis: Evidence from the Ancient Near East, the Hebrew Bible, and 1QH XI, 1-18 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2008), 206, where she notes that there is no biblical example of מַעֲשֶׂה in the sense of “creature,” and that it is unlikely that the term conveyed this sense in the Thanksgiving Scroll. ↩
• ^[26] Neither did he cite any. See Bovon, Luke, 1:122. ↩
• ^[27] See Samuel Tobias Lachs, “Studies in the Semitic Background to the Gospel of Matthew,” Jewish Quarterly Review 67.4 (1977): 195-217, esp. 197-199. ↩
• ^[28] See Michael P. Knowles, “Serpents, Scribes, and Pharisees,” Journal of Biblical Literature 133.1 (2014): 165-178. ↩
• ^[29] See Hatch-Redpath, 2:1413. ↩
• ^[30] See Dos Santos, 128. ↩
• ^[31] In Gen. 3:11 τίς ἀνήγγειλέν σοι (“Who told you...?”) occurs as the translation of מִי הִגִּיד לְךָ (“Who told you...?”); in 1 Kgdms. 20:10 τίς ἀπαγγελεῖ μοι (“Who will tell me...?”) serves as the translation of מִי יַגִּיד לִי (“Who will tell me...?”); in Isa. 41:26 τίς γὰρ ἀναγγελεῖ (“For who will tell...?”) translates מִי הִגִּיד (“Who told...?”); in Job 21:31 τίς ἀπαγγελεῖ (“Who will tell...?") occurs as the translation of מִי יַגִּיד (“Who will tell...?); in Job 26:4 τίνι ἀνήγγειλας (“Whom did you tell...?”) serves as the translation of אֶת מִי הִגַּדְתָּ (“Whom did you tell...?”); in Eccl 6:12 τίς ἀπαγγελεῖ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ (“Who will tell a person...?”) translates מִי יַגִּיד לָאָדָם (“Who will tell a person...?”); in Eccl. 8:7 and Eccl. 10:4 τίς ἀναγγελεῖ αὐτῷ (“Who will tell him...?”) is the equivalent of מִי יַגִּיד לוֹ (“Who will tell him...?”). ↩
• ^[32] Josephus (Ant. 18:117) may imply that there was a popular misconception that John’s immersion would automatically secure pardon from sins. ↩
• ^[33] See Hatch-Redpath, 2:1428-1429. ↩
• ^[34] See Dos Santos, 130. ↩
• ^[35] The only other example we have found of a verse describing “anger” as “coming” is in 2 Chr. 32:26, where וְלֹא בָא עֲלֵיהֶם קֶצֶף יי בִּימֵי יְחִזְקִיָּהוּ (“and the Lord’s wrath [קֶצֶף] did not come [בָא] upon them in the days of Hezekiah”) was rendered in LXX as καὶ οὐκ ἐπῆλθεν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοὺς ὀργὴ κυρίου ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Εζεκιου (“and the anger [ὀργή] of the Lord did not come [ἐπῆλθεν] upon them in the days of Hezekiah”). ↩
• ^[36] See Hatch-Redpath, 2:1008-1010. ↩
• ^[37] See Hatch-Redpath, 2:909. Cf. Sending the Twelve: Commissioning, Comment to L33. ↩
• ^[38] Cf. Jastrow, 1129; Segal, 167 §349; Kutscher, 131 §218. ↩
• ^[39] We are aware that in MT חֲרוֹן אַף almost always occurs either with a pronominal suffix (e.g., חֲרוֹן אַפּוֹ [“his fierce anger”]) or followed by a noun (e.g., חֲרוֹן אַף יי [“the Lord’s fierce anger”]). However, we see no reason why the definite construct phrase חֲרוֹן הָאַף (“the fierce anger”) should be grammatically impossible. Note that the indefinite phrase חֲרוֹן אַף occurs in Isa. 13:9 and 2 Chr. 28:13. Another possibility is that HR should read חֲרוֹן אַף הֶעָתִיד לָבוֹא, which is grammatically (and conceptually) parallel to the phrase סֵדֶר פּוּרְעָנוּת הָעֲתִידָה לָבוֹא עֲלֵיהֶם (“the succession of punishment that is to come upon them”; Sifre Num., BeHa‘alotcha §91 [ed. Horovitz, 91]). It is likely that John the Baptist intentionally chose a phrase that allowed him to avoid using the divine name. ↩
• ^[40] See Harnack, 2; LHNS, 11 §2. ↩
• ^[41] See Randall Buth and Brian Kvasnica, “Critical Notes on the VTS” (JS1, 259-317, esp. 281). ↩
• ^[42] See E. H. Scheffler, “The Social Ethics of the Lucan Baptist (Lk 3:10-14),” Neotestamentica 24.1 (1990): 21-36, esp. 26, 30; Tuckett, “John the Baptist in Q,” 110. ↩
• ^[43] On the use of ἄρχειν + infinitive in the Synoptic Gospels, see Buth and Kvasnica, “Critical Notes on the VTS,” (JS1, 261-268). ↩
• ^[44] Pace Fitzmyer (1:468) and Bovon (1:122 n. 26). ↩
• ^[45] See Moulton, 15; Manson, Sayings, 40; LHNS, 11 §2. ↩
• ^[46] See Even-Shoshan, Concordance, 586 (לִבְּכֶם), ‎587-588 (לְבַבְכֶם). ↩
• ^[47] Another example of לְבַבְכֶם occurs in 4Q302 3 II, 4. ↩
• ^[48] See BDAG, 268-269; Muraoka, Lexicon, 183-184. ↩
• ^[49] Cf. the statement in the story of Joseph and his brothers, יֶשׁ לָנוּ אָב זָקֵן (“There is to us an elderly father”; Gen. 44:20), which the LXX translators rendered as ἔστιν ἡμῖν πατὴρ πρεσβύτερος (“There is to us an elderly father”; Gen. 44:20). ↩
• ^[50] In LXX אָב + suffix is translated simply as πατήρ (without an accompanying possessive pronoun) in Gen. 20:12; 27:31; 28:7; 44:22 (2xx), 34; Prov. 4:3; 15:5; 19:13; 23:25; 28:7, 24; 30:11; Job 8:8; Isa. 8:4; Jer. 3:4, 19; Ezek. 5:10. This list excludes examples of vocative πάτερ (without an accompanying possessive pronoun), which also regularly occurred as the translation of אָב + pronominal suffix. See Lord’s Prayer, Comment to L10. ↩
• ^[51] On Ἅβραμος reflecting the shorter name אַבְרָם, see William Hornbury and David Noy, Jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 99-100. ↩
• ^[52] Pace J. Green, 176. ↩
• ^[53] A similar point is made in the Rich Man and Lazar parable, where Abraham is unable to comfort the rich man in Hades (Luke 16:25-26). ↩
• ^[54] Perhaps this comment alludes to God’s promise to Abraham that “whoever curses you I will curse” (Gen. 12:3). The implication is that if such a worthy soul as Abraham is unable to redeem himself, how much less chance is there for ordinary sinners to redeem themselves? ↩
• ^[55] We owe this reference to R. Menahem, “A Jewish Commentary on the New Testament: A Sample Verse,” Immanuel 21 (1987): 43-54, esp. 47-48. ↩
• ^[56] Segal (205 §424) noted that in MH “The use of -שֶׁ to introduce direct narration is rare and doubtful.” ↩
• ^[57] In the LXX books of the Pentateuch θεός occurs as the translation of אֵל in Gen. 4:18, 19, 20, 22; 16:13; 17:1; 21:33; 28:3, 19; 31:13 (2xx); 33:20; 35:1, 3, 11; 43:14; 46:3; 48:3; 49:25; Exod. 6:3; 15:2, 11; 20:5; 34:6, 14 (2xx); Num. 12:13; 16:22; 23:19, 22, 23; 24:4, 8, 16, 23; Deut. 3:24; 4:24, 31; 5:9; 6:15; 7:9, 21; 10:17; 32:4, 12, 18, 21; 33:26. ↩
• ^[58] See Hatch-Redpath, 1:364. Cf. McNeile, 28. ↩
• ^[59] On אֵלּוּ as the MH replacement of BH אֵלֶּה (’ēleh, “these”), see Segal, 41 §72. ↩
• ^[60] See Hatch-Redpath, 2:1340-1342. ↩
• ^[61] See Dos Santos, 27. ↩
• ^[62] In this regard Jeremias is one of the few voices of dissent. See Joachim Jeremias, “λίθος,” TDNT, 4:268-280, esp. 268, 271. ↩
• ^[63] See Lightfoot, 3:51 (who denies the wordplay); McNeile, 28; Creed, 52; Manson, Sayings, 40; Jeremias, “λίθος,” TDNT, 4:268 (who also denies the wordplay); Nolland, Luke, 1:148. ↩
• ^[64] See Hagner, 1:50; France, Matt., 111; Nolland, Matt., 144. See also Jean Carmignac, “Studies in the Hebrew Background of the Synoptic Gospels,” Annual of the Swedish Theological Institute 7 (1970): 64-93, esp. 69. ↩
• ^[65] See Plummer, Luke, 90; Albright-Mann, 26; Betz, “Was John the Baptist an Essene?” 24; Buchanan, 1:137; Daniel R. Schwartz, “On the Jewish Background of Christianity,” in Studies in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity: Text and Context (ed. Dan Jaffé; Leiden: Brill, 2010), 87-105, esp. 100; Edwards, Luke, 111. ↩
• ^[66] See Randall Buth and Chad Pierce, “Hebraisti in Ancient Texts: Does Ἑβραϊστί Ever Mean ‘Aramaic’?” (JS2, 66-109, esp. 89 n. 63). ↩
• ^[67] Pace Bovon, 1:123. Scholars who recognize the allusion to Isa. 51:1-2 include Plummer (Luke, 90); Jeremias (“λίθος,” TDNT, 4:270-271); Menahem Kister, “Plucking on the Sabbath and Christian-Jewish Polemic,” Immanuel 24/25 (1990): 35-51, esp. 35 n. 1. ↩
• ^[68] See Nolland, Matt., 145. ↩
• ^[69] Cf. McNeile, 28. ↩
• ^[70] For a discussion of the "building" symbolism in John the Baptist’s preaching, see David Flusser, “The Isaiah Pesher and the Notion of Twelve Apostles in the Early Church” (Flusser, JSTP1, 305-326, esp. 317, 321). ↩
• ^[71] Cf. Eph. 2:19-22. ↩
• ^[72] On Jesus’ use of the term “son of peace,” see Sending the Twelve: Conduct in Town, Comment to L88. ↩
• ^[73] See Plummer, Luke, 90; Creed, 52. In Luke δὲ καί occurs 29xx (Luke 2:4; 3:9, 12; 4:41; 5:10, 36; 6:39; 9:61; 10:32; 11:18; 12:54, 57; 14:12, 34; 15:28, 32; 16:1, 22; 18:9; 19:19; 20:11, 12, 31; 21:16; 22:24; 23:32, 35, 38; 24:37), in Mark δὲ καί occurs 2xx (Mark 14:31; 15:40), in Matthew δὲ καί occurs 6xx (Matt. 10:18, 30; 18:17; 24:49; 25:22, 24), and in Acts δὲ καί occurs 19xx (Acts 2:7, 26; 3:1; 5:16; 9:24; 11:7; 12:25; 13:5; 14:27; 15:35; 16:1; 17:18; 19:28, 31; 20:11; 21:16; 22:28; 23:34; 24:9). ↩
• ^[74] See Cadbury, Style, 146; Nolland, Luke, 1:148. ↩
• ^[75] See Hatch-Redpath, 1:113. ↩
• ^[76] See Moshe Bar-Asher, “Mishnaic Hebrew: An Introductory Survey,” in The Literature of the Sages (CRINT II.3; 2 vols.; ed. Shmuel Safrai, Zeev Safrai, Joshua Schwartz and Peter J. Tomson; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006), 2:567-595, esp. 581. ↩
• ^[77] See, e.g., m. Shev. 4:6; m. Shab. 17:2; m. Avot 4:5; m. Kel. 20:3; 29:4, 5, 7 (2xx); m. Par. 12:5. ↩
• ^[78] See Jastrow, 1412. ↩
• ^[79] On the equation of Greek ἀξίνη with Latin dolabra (var. dolobra), see the Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum (ed. Georg Goetz et al.; 7 vols.; Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1888-1923), 2:54, 231; 3:204, 325; 6:362; 7:460. ↩
• ^[80] See K. D. White, Agricultural Implements of the Roman World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), 63. White (64) demurred that, properly speaking, the ἀξίνη ought to be identified with the securis, a single-faced tool with a blade perpendicular to the shaft. However, the constant identification of the dolabra with the ἀξίνη suggests that the terms were not always used with exact precision. ↩
• ^[81] See W. M. Flinders Petrie, Tools and Weapons Illustrated by the Egyptian Collection in University College, London (London: Constable, 1917), 15. ↩
• ^[82] Bailey, 2:83. ↩
• ^[83] Note that the tool issued to Essene novices, which Josephus referred to by the terms ἀξινάριον (axinarion; J.W. 2:137) and ἀξινίδιον (axinidion; J.W. 2:148)—both diminutive forms of ἀξίνη—was used for digging holes in the ground into which the Essenes could relieve themselves. ↩
• ^[84] See Hatch-Redpath, 1:289-290. Elsewhere we have preferred to reconstruct δένδρον (dendron, “tree”) with אִילָן (’ilān, “tree”). See Mustard Seed and Starter Dough, Comment to L18. ↩
• ^[85] See Hatch-Redpath, 2:758. ↩
• ^[86] See Hatch-Redpath, 1:434. ↩
• ^[87] For examples of עָקַר in rabbinic sources, see Darnel Among the Wheat, Comment to L25. ↩
• ^[88] Cf. Black, 107. ↩
• ^[89] According to our calculations, 78% of Matthew’s wording in Yohanan the Immerser Demands Repentance is identical to Luke’s, while 94% of Luke’s wording is identical to Matthew’s. See LOY Excursus: Criteria for Distinguishing Type 1 from Type 2 Double Tradition Pericopae. ↩
• ^[90]

  Yohanan the Immerser Demands Repentance
  Luke’s Version		Anthology’s Wording (Reconstructed)
  [ἔλεγεν οὖν τοῖς ἐκπορευομένοις ὄχλοις βαπτισθῆναι ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ] γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν τίς ὑπέδειξεν ὑμῖν φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς ποιήσατε οὖν ἀξίους καρποὺς τῆς μετανοίας καὶ μὴ ἄρξησθε λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς πατέρα ἔχομεν τὸν Ἀβραάμ λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι δύναται ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραάμ ἤδη δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀξείνη πρὸς τὴν ῥίζαν τῶν δένδρων κεῖται πᾶν οὖν δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλὸν ἐκκόπτεται καὶ εἰς πῦρ βάλλεται		ἰδὼν δὲ αὐτοὺς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν τίς ὑπέδειξεν ὑμῖν φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς ποιήσατε οὖν καρπὸν ἄξιον τῆς μετανοίας καὶ μὴ ἄρξησθε λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς πατέρα ἔχομεν τὸν Ἀβραάμ λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι δύναται ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραάμ ἤδη δὲ ἡ ἀξίνη πρὸς τὴν ῥίζαν τῶν δένδρων κεῖται πᾶν οὖν δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλὸν ἐκκόπτεται καὶ εἰς πῦρ βάλλεται
  Total Words:	64 [72]	Total Words:	68
  Total Words Identical to Anth.:	61	Total Words Taken Over in Luke:	61
  Percentage Identical to Anth.:	95.31 [84.72]%	Percentage of Anth. Represented in Luke:	89.71%

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• ^[91]

  Yohanan the Immerser Demands Repentance
  Matthew’s Version		Anthology’s Wording (Reconstructed)
  ἰδὼν δὲ πολλοὺς τῶν Φαρεισαίων καὶ Σαδδουκαίων ἐρχομένους ἐπὶ τὸ βάπτισμα εἶπεν αὐτοῖς γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν τίς ὑπέδειξεν ὑμῖν φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς ποιήσατε οὖν καρπὸν ἄξιον τῆς μετανοίας καὶ μὴ δόξητε λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς πατέρα ἔχομεν τὸν Ἀβραάμ λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι δύναται ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραάμ ἤδη δὲ ἡ ἀξείνη πρὸς τὴν ῥίζαν τῶν δένδρων κεῖται πᾶν οὖν δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλὸν ἐκκόπτεται καὶ εἰς πῦρ βάλλεται		ἰδὼν δὲ αὐτοὺς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν τίς ὑπέδειξεν ὑμῖν φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς ποιήσατε οὖν καρπὸν ἄξιον τῆς μετανοίας καὶ μὴ ἄρξησθε λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς πατέρα ἔχομεν τὸν Ἀβραάμ λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι δύναται ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραάμ ἤδη δὲ ἡ ἀξίνη πρὸς τὴν ῥίζαν τῶν δένδρων κεῖται πᾶν οὖν δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλὸν ἐκκόπτεται καὶ εἰς πῦρ βάλλεται
  Total Words:	76	Total Words:	68
  Total Words Identical to Anth.:	66	Total Words Taken Over in Matt:	66
  Percentage Identical to Anth.:	86.84%	Percentage of Anth. Represented in Matt.:	97.06%

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• ^[92] For abbreviations and bibliographical references, see “Introduction to ‘The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction.’” ↩
• ^[93] This translation is a dynamic rendition of our reconstruction of the conjectured Hebrew source that stands behind the Greek of the Synoptic Gospels. It is not a translation of the Greek text of a canonical source. ↩
• ^[94] On the shift of the meaning of פָּדָה from “redeem” to “ransom” in MH, see David Flusser, “Redemption: In the Talmud,” Encyclopedia Judaica (2d ed.; 22 vols.; ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik; Detroit: Macmillan, 2007), 17:152. ↩