Bible Strands
Isaiah 59:5
They hatch the eggs of vipers and weave a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die; crack one open, and a viper is hatched.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses Judah’s people during a period of national covenant failure, contrasting their corrupt inner life with their outward religious claims.
The words — בֵּיצֵ֤י (bei.Tzei) literally means "eggs," and צִפְעוֹנִי (tzif.'o.Ni) means "a viper." The text states they hatch viper eggs and weave spider webs before noting that consuming or breaking them results in death or a hatched serpent.
The thread — This imagery of venomous broods and fragile webs recurs in Matthew 3:7, Isaiah 14:29, and Job 8:14. These passages use the same motifs to depict deceptive trust and impending judgment.
Why it lands — The text states that corrupt intentions produce lethal spiritual consequences rather than protection. It asks the reader to abandon reliance on deceptive works and confront the reality of their own moral fruit.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
Cross-references
- Matthew 3:7 But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
- Isaiah 14:29 Do not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken. For a viper will spring from the root of the snake, and a flying serpent from its egg.
- Job 8:14 His confidence is fragile; his security is in a spider’s web.
- Proverbs 23:32 In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.
- Matthew 12:34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.