Luke 21:23
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How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! For there will be great distress upon the land and wrath against this people.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
woe unto--"alas for." with child, &c.--from the greater suffering it would involve; as also "flight in winter, and on the sabbath," which they were to "pray" against (Mat 24:20), the one as more trying to the body, the other to the soul. "For then shall be tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world, nor ever shall be"--language not unusual in the Old Testament for tremendous calamities, though of this it may perhaps be literally said, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (Mat 24:21-22). But for this merciful "shortening," brought about by a remarkable concurrence of causes, the whole nation would have perished, in which there yet remained a remnant to be afterwards gathered out. Here in Matthew and Mark (Mat 24:24; Mar 13:22) are some particulars about "false Christs," who should, "if possible"--a precious clause--"deceive the very elect." (Compare Th2 2:9-11; Rev 13:13.)
Open source ↗In this chapter we have, I. The notice Christ took, and the approbation he gave, of a poor widow that cast two mites into the treasury (Luk 21:1-4). II. A prediction of future events, in answer to his disciples' enquiries concerning them (Luk 21:5-7). 1. Of what should happen between that and the destruction of Jerusalem - false Christs arising, bloody wars and persecutions of Christ's followers (Luk 21:8-19). 2. Of that destruction itself (Luk 21:20-24). 3. Of the second coming of Jesus Christ to judge the world, under the type and figure of that (Luk 21:25-33). III. A practical application of this, by way of caution and counsel (Luk 21:34-36), and an account of Christ's preaching and the people's attendance on it (Luk 21:37, Luk 21:38).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!
The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Look, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’
How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!
Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.
hindering us from telling the Gentiles how they may be saved. As a result, they continue to heap up their sins to full capacity; the utmost wrath has come upon them.
For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?
And these enemies of mine who were unwilling for me to rule over them, bring them here and slay them in front of me.’”
For the days will come upon you when your enemies will barricade you and surround you and hem you in on every side.
“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and will rent out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the fruit at harvest time.”