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;
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.
- KJV 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.
- 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.
- 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 those who are with child and to those who nurse babies in those days!
- Lam 4:10The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children; They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- Luke 23:29For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’
- Matt 24:19But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days!
- Heb 10:26–31For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins,
- Jas 5:1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
- 1 Pet 4:17For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey the Good News of God?
- Deut 28:56–57The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye will be evil toward the husband that she loves, toward her son, toward her daughter,
- 1 Th 2:16forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
- Heb 9:12–17nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption.
- Matt 21:41They told him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its season.”
- Luke 19:43For the days will come on you, when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, surround you, hem you in on every side,
- Matt 21:44He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust.”
- Heb 13:16But don’t forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
- Luke 19:27But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill 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.