O generation of vipers. — Better, as in Matthew 3:7, brood of vipers. Here the law which had been pressed in its logical bearing in the preceding verse, is brought in to explain the bitter and evil words of the Pharisees. As long as they were what they were, nothing else was to be looked for. Nothing but the serpent’s hiss could come from the brood of vipers, nothing but bitter words from hearts so full of bitterness.
Related Commentaries of Matthew 12:34
Matthew 12:34
34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.