⁷ To the crowds of people who came to be baptized by John, he said, “You are all snakes! Who warned you to run away from God’s coming punishment? ⁸ Do the things that show you really have changed your hearts and lives. Don’t begin to say to yourselves, ‘Abraham is our father.’ I tell you that God could make children for Abraham from these rocks. ⁹ The ax is now ready to cut down the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”^[a]