But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
Parallel translations
- WEB Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse infants in those days! For there will be great distress in the land, and wrath to this people.
- BSB 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.
- NKJV But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people.
- NASB Woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to this people;
- NLT How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. For there will be disaster in the land and great anger against this people.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Great distress is coming, especially hard for pregnant and nursing mothers.
Overview
Jesus laments the particular suffering the siege will bring to the most vulnerable. The 'wrath upon this people' refers to the judgment falling on Jerusalem for its unbelief. His words carry compassion even amid pronouncing inevitable disaster.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Mark 13:17But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
- Lam 4:10The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- Luke 23:29For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
- Matt 24:19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
- Heb 10:26–31For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
- Jas 5:1Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
- 1 Pet 4:17For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
- Deut 28:56–57The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,
- 1 Th 2:16Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
- Heb 9:12–17Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
- Matt 21:41They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
- Luke 19:43For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
- Matt 21:44And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
- Heb 13:16But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
- Luke 19:27But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 21:23 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.