en_tn/mat/12/34.md

# You offspring of vipers

Here "offspring" means "having the characteristic of." Vipers are poisonous snakes that are dangerous and represent evil. See how you translated a similar phrase in [Matthew 3:7](../03/07.md). (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])

# You ... you

These are plural and refer to the Pharisees. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-you]])

# how can you say good things?

Jesus uses a question to rebuke the Pharisees. Alternate translation: "you cannot say good things." or "you can only say evil things." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-rquestion]])

# out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks

Here "heart" is a metonym for the thoughts in a person's mind. Here "mouth" is a synecdoche that represents a person as a whole. Alternate translation: "what a person says with his mouth reveals what is in his mind" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-synecdoche]])