83. In this view the expression occurs thirty-four times, viz: St. Matt. vi. 33; xii. 28; xiii.
38; xix. 24; xxi. 31; St. Mark i. 14; x. 15, 23, 24, 25; xii. 34; St. Luke i. 33; iv. 43; ix. 11;
x. 9, 11; xi. 20; xii. 31; xvii. 20, 21; xviii. 17, 24, 25, 29; St. John iii. 3; Acts i. 3; viii. 12;
xx. 25; xxviii. 31; Rom. xiv. 17; 1 Cor. iv. 20; Col. iv. 11; 1 Thess. ii. 12; Rev. i. 9.
84. As in the following seventeen passages, viz.: St. Matt. iii. 2; iv. 17, 23; v. 3, 10; ix.
35; x. 7; St. Mark i. 15; xi. 10; St. Luke viii. 1; ix. 2; xvi. 16; xix. 12, 15; Acts i. 3; xxviii.
23; Rev. i. 9.
85. As in the following eleven passages: St. Matt. xi. 11; xiii. 41; xvi. 19; xviii. 1; xxi. 43;
xxiii. 13; St. Luke vii. 28; St. John iii. 5; Acts i. 3; Col. i. 13; Rev. i. 9.
86. As in the following twenty-four passages: St. Matt. xi. 12; xiii. 11, 19, 24, 31, 33, 44,
45, 47, 52; xviii. 23; xx. 1; xxii. 2; xxv. 1, 14; St. Mark iv. 11, 26, 30; St. Luke viii. 10;
ix. 62; xiii. 18, 20; Acts i. 3; Rev. i. 9.
87. As in the following twelve passages: St. Mark xvi. 28; St. Mark ix. 1; xv. 43; St. Luke
ix. 27; xix. 11; xxi. 31; xxii. 16, 18; Acts i. 3; 2 Tim. iv. 1; Heb. xii. 28; Rev. i. 9.
88. As in the following thirty-one passages: St. Matt. v. 19, 20; vii. 21; viii. 11; xiii. 43;
xviii. 3; xxv. 34; xxvi. 29; St. Mark ix. 47; x. 14; xiv. 25; St. Luke vi. 20; xii. 32; xiii. 28,
29; xiv. 15; xviii. 16; xxii. 29; Acts i. 3; xiv. 22; 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10; xv. 24, 50; Gal. v. 21;
Eph. v. 5; 2 Thess. i. 5; St. James ii. 5; 2 Peter i. 11; Rev. i. 9; xii. 10 .
89. The term 'repentance' includes faith in Christ, as in St. Luke xxiv. 47; Acts v. 31.
The account given by St. Luke bears, on the face of it, that it was a summary, not only of
the first, but of all John's preaching.90 The very presence of his hearers at this call to, and
baptism of, repentance, gave point to his words. Did they who, notwithstanding their
sins,91 lived in such security of carelessness and self- righteousness, really understand and
fear the final consequences of resistance to the coming 'Kingdom'? If so, theirs must be a
repentance not only in profession, but of heart and mind, such as would yield fruit, both
good and visible. Or else did they imagine that, according to the common notion of the
time, the vials of wrath were to be poured out only on the Gentiles,92 while they, as
Abraham's children, were sure of escape - in the words of the Talmud, that 'the night' (Is.
xxi. 12) was 'only to the nations of the world, but the morning to Israel?'93
90. iii. 18.
91. I cannot, with Schöttgen and others, regard the expression 'generation of vipers' as an
allusion to the filthy legend about the children of Eve and the serpent, but believe that it
refers to such passages as Ps. lviii. 4.
92. In proof that such was the common view, I shall here refer to only a few passages,
and these exclusively from the Targumum: Jer. Targ. on Gen. xlix. 11; Targ. on Is. xi. 4;
Targ. on Amos ix. 11; Targ. on Nah. i. 6; on Zech. x. 3, 4. See also Ab. Z. 2 b, Yalkut i.
p. 64 a; also 56 b (where it is shown how pla gues exactly corresponding to those of Egypt
were to come upon Rome).
93. Jer. Taan. 64 a.