This saying occurs, not in the midst of Q material, but as an appendix to a discussion which Matthew and Luke both take from Mark. The passage seems to be well attested textually. Considering its context, and its relation to the material immediately preceding, it seems natural to assign the verses either to Matthew himself or to some early editor, rather than to seek a special source for them or to attribute them to Matthew's Q. Vs. 7 has already been considered in connection with ix, 13. If the [Greek: anaitious] in this latter verse were singular instead of plural it would certainly be taken as a reference to the condemnation and death of Jesus; indeed, it may naturally, tho not with so much assurance, be so taken as it stands.
This long quotation, occurring as it does in the midst of a Marcan narrative, may be ascribed either to Matthew or one of his sources; but there is no evidence that such quotations were part of Q.
[Greek: Gennêmata echidnôn] is used once by Matthew and Luke in common (Mt iii, 7; Lk iii, 7) and twice by Matthew alone. The question in which it occurs here seems to render the statement in vss. 36-37 less justifiable. The repetition, not only of the one phrase, but of the idea, in the section might be taken to indicate that this half of a verse is an addition either by Matthew or by some later hand.
If Matthew be credited with the insertion of vs. 34_a_, it is not unlikely that he added these verses also, as a corrective of the impression that might be drawn from the previous insertion. In character, however, the verses are similar enough to Q, and might be assigned to Matthew's recension.
This verse occurs in a passage concerning the demand for a sign, which Matthew and Luke have evidently taken from Q. Luke's form of the saying about Jonah is evidently the original one. Matthew's reference to the three days spent by Jesus "in the heart of the earth" is _post eventum_, and even so cannot be early. It may perhaps be taken for a gloss, or it may have been added by Matthew. It may equally well have been added by some editor of Q before that document fell into Matthew's hands; there is nothing to determine, except that the strong resemblance, almost amounting to identity, between Matthew and Luke in the rest of the passage may properly incline one toward the assumption of a late addition.