Bible Strands
Matthew 24:19
How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses his disciples during the Olivet Discourse, describing the urgent flight from Jerusalem amid an impending period of tribulation. He speaks to warn them of the specific physical hardships that will accompany their escape.
The words — The Greek οὐαὶ (ouai) literally means "woe" or "miserable," while γαστρὶ ἐχούσαις (gastri echousais) translates to "having a womb" or "pregnant." These terms specify the physical vulnerability of expectant and nursing women during the crisis.
The thread — The warning parallels Luke 21:23, which uses identical phrasing for the distress of pregnant and nursing mothers. It also connects to the siege imagery of Deuteronomy 28:53 and the lament in Luke 23:29 regarding the suffering of women under judgment.
Why it lands — The text states that extreme distress will make normal life impossible, particularly for those carrying or feeding infants. It requires the reader to acknowledge that crisis demands immediate, uncompromising action without hesitation or attachment to possessions.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Cross-references
- Luke 23:29 Look, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’
- Deuteronomy 28:53 Then you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you.
- Luke 21:23 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.
- Mark 13:17 How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!
- Lamentations 4:10 The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- Lamentations 4:3 Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.
- Hosea 13:16 Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
- 2 Samuel 4:4 And Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to escape, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.
- 2 Kings 15:16 At that time Menahem, starting from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in its vicinity, because they would not open their gates. So he attacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.