But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Parallel translations
- WEB But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babies in those days!
- BSB How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!
- NKJV But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
- NASB But woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
- NLT How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days.
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
Jesus laments for pregnant and nursing mothers in those days, for flight will be hardest on them. His compassion shows even amid judgment.
Overview
The 'woe' here is sorrowful lament, not condemnation, expressing Jesus' tender concern for the most vulnerable in a time of upheaval. Mothers with infants could not flee swiftly, making the coming distress especially cruel for them. Even as he foretells judgment, Jesus' heart goes out to the weak, reflecting the compassion of the Savior who cares for the suffering.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 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.
- Lam 4:3–4Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
- Luke 21:23But 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.
- Hos 13:16Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
- 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,
- Lam 2:19–20Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the LORD: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.
- Matt 24:19–21And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
- Hos 9:14Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 13:17 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.