"Brood of vipers" literally means the offspring (plural) of snakes. It can also mean generation of vipers. First, John The Baptist, then, Jesus used this expression to insult the pharisees and sadducees (based on Matthew) or crowds (based on Luke) which might have been alluding to all Jews. Ancient Arabian vipers chewed their way out of their mothers' wombs, killing their mothers in the process. This would make "brood of vipers" to mean "mother-killer." (Keener) #citationreq This is a fairly wide spread ancient view. Sources: https://www.onemansweb.org/a-most-serious-insult-matthew-3-1-12.html Right: [[vipers-as-motherkillers]]