Matthew 23:31

31 itaque testimonio estis vobismet ipsis quia filii estis eorum qui prophetas occiderunt

Matthew 23:31 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 23:31

Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves
Or "against yourselves", as the Syriac reads; for what they said was a plain acknowledgment, and a full confession, what their fathers had done, and whose offspring they were; and from whom better things were not to be expected; since they were their fathers' own children, and of the same temper and disposition with them: that ye are the children of them that killed the prophets.
They plainly owned, that their fathers killed the prophets, and that they descended from them; though they meant not so much to reproach, their ancestors, as to give themselves a greater character; yet it did not with those, that knew them; not with our Lord: for as their own words testified against them, that they were a seed of evildoers; their practices showed them to be of the same spirit and principles with their progenitors.

Matthew 23:31 In-Context

29 vae vobis scribae et Pharisaei hypocritae quia aedificatis sepulchra prophetarum et ornatis monumenta iustorum

30 et dicitis si fuissemus in diebus patrum nostrorum non essemus socii eorum in sanguine prophetarum

31 itaque testimonio estis vobismet ipsis quia filii estis eorum qui prophetas occiderunt

32 et vos implete mensuram patrum vestrorum

33 serpentes genimina viperarum quomodo fugietis a iudicio gehennae