And woe unto 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 nursing mothers 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 women in those days, for whom flight will be hardest. It expresses compassion amid the coming distress.
Overview
The warning acknowledges the special hardship the crisis will bring on those least able to flee quickly. Jesus' words reveal tenderness toward the vulnerable even as he foretells judgment. It humanizes the coming tribulation and reflects the Lord's compassion for the weak.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Luke 23:29–30For, 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.
- 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.
- Deut 28:53–56And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:
- Mark 13:17–18But 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 2 Sam 4:4And Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.
- 2 Kgs 15:16Then Menahem smote Tiphsah, and all that were therein, and the coasts thereof from Tirzah: because they opened not to him, therefore he smote it; and all the women therein that were with child he ripped up.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 24:19 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.