They have dealt corruptly with him. They are not his children, because of their defect. They are a perverse and crooked generation.
⛓ Read Deuteronomy 32 forward — the whole chapter and its afterlife →Where this passage surfaces again, sorted by the strength of the link. Each kind of reuse — formal quotation, deliberate allusion, faint echo, figural pattern — carries its own mark. Follow any reference to read it in place.
Quotation1
A formal citation — high verbal volume, often introduced by a saying-formula.
'Children of God without defect in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation' lifts the Song of Moses' indictment of Israel as 'a perverse and crooked generation,' but inverts it: the church are now the faithful children. Volume is high (skolios kai diestrammenos plus 'children/not his children' from the same verse), and the Song of Moses is a recurrent NT source, giving strong availability and coherence.
High confidenceAllusion5
A deliberate verbal borrowing without a citation formula.
'O faithless and perverse generation' quotes the Song of Moses' indictment of a 'perverse and crooked generation,' placing Jesus in Moses' prophetic-judge role just after descending the mountain. High verbal volume and pointed coherence with the new-Moses framing.
High confidenceJesus' address 'O faithless generation' draws on the Song of Moses, which calls Israel a 'perverse and crooked generation' that has dealt corruptly and is not faithful. The generation-rebuke vocabulary is distinctively Deuteronomic. Mark frames the unbelieving crowd in covenant-lawsuit terms.
High confidence'A perverse and crooked generation' (genea skolia kai diestrammene, LXX). Jesus' rebuke 'O faithless and perverse generation' (genea apistos kai diestrammene) borrows the Song of Moses' indictment of the wilderness generation, casting the unbelieving crowd as the new faithless Israel.
High confidence'Save yourselves from this crooked generation' (v.40) draws on the Song of Moses' indictment of Israel as 'a perverse and crooked generation' (Deut 32:5, skolias), the standard LXX phrase for covenant-faithless Israel. Moderate verbal volume (genea skolia), strong thematic coherence as a call to separate from the faithless generation.
Medium confidenceThe Song of Moses brands Israel 'a perverse and crooked generation' whose corruption is 'no longer his children's.' Jesus' indictment of 'this generation' draws on this prophetic vocabulary for a faithless cohort that demands proof yet will not believe.
Medium confidenceEcho4
A fainter, low-volume reuse, carried by recurrence or thematic coherence.
'A perverse and crooked generation' — the Song of Moses' indictment lies behind Matthew's recurrent 'evil and adulterous generation'; covenantal-prophetic language for a faithless people.
Medium confidence'This adulterous and sinful generation' reprises the Song of Moses' 'perverse and crooked generation,' tying the audience of Jesus' words to the faithless wilderness cohort already invoked in the sign-seeking pericope. The recurrence of the 'generation' label within Mark 8 strengthens the link.
Low confidence"A crooked and twisted generation" from the Song of Moses lies behind the verdict on 'this generation' (v36).
Low confidenceSong of Moses' description of a 'crooked and perverse generation... no faith in them' echoes the covenant-breaking, faithless terms of vv.31. Faint; Deut 32 recurs later in Romans.
Low confidence