But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For 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.’ Then they will begin to tell the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and tell the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?”
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Luke 23:28-31 sits inside this longer paragraph.
When they led him away, they grabbed one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it after Jesus. A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who also mourned and lamented him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For 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.’ Then they will begin to tell the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and tell the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?”
Parallel Translations
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But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
For 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.’
Then they will begin to tell the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and tell the hills, ‘Cover us.’
For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?”
-
But Iesus turned backe vnto them and sayde: Doughters of Ierusalem, wepe not for me: but wepe for youre selves and for youre chyldren.
For beholde, the dayes will come, when men shall saye: happy are the baren and the wombes that never bare and the pappes which never gave sucke.
Then shall they beginne to saye to the mountaynes fall on vs: and to the hilles cover vs.
For yf they do this to a grene tree what shalbe done to the drye?
Show all 3 translations
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But Iesus turned backe vnto them, and said, Daughters of Hierusalem, weepe not for me, but weepe for your selues, and for your children.
For behold, the dayes wil come, when men shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombes that neuer bare, and the pappes which neuer gaue sucke.
Then shall they begin to say to the mountaines, Fall on vs: and to the hilles, Couer vs.
For if they doe these things to a greene tree, what shalbe done to the drie?
Cross-references (25)
- Revelation 6:16 (v30) They told the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,
- Hosea 10:8 (v30) The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars. They will tell…
- Isaiah 2:19 (v30) Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his…
- Revelation 9:6 (v30) In those days people will seek death, and will in no way find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them.
- Matthew 24:19 (v29) But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days!
Show all 25 cross-references
- 1 Peter 4:17-18 (v31) For 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…
- Mark 13:17-19 (v29) But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babies in those days! Pray that your flight won’t be in the winter. For in those…
- Luke 21:23-24 (v29) 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…
- Proverbs 11:31 (v31) Behold, the righteous shall be repaid in the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!
- Hosea 9:12-16 (v29) Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them, so that not a man shall be left. Indeed, woe also to them when I depart from…
- John 15:6 (v31) If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are…
- Ezekiel 20:47-48 (v31) Tell the forest of the South, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word: The Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it will devour every…
- Hosea 13:16 (v29) Samaria will bear her guilt; for she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces, and…
- Ezekiel 15:2-7 (v31) “Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest? Will wood be taken of it to…
- Ezekiel 21:3-4 (v31) Tell the land of Israel, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, and will draw my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you the…
- Matthew 3:12 (v31) His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the…
- Deuteronomy 28:53-57 (v29) You will eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and…
- Song of Solomon 8:4 (v28) I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires.
- Song of Solomon 1:5 (v28) I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains.
- Song of Solomon 2:7 (v28) I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires.
- Song of Solomon 3:5 (v28) I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up nor awaken love, until it so desires.
- Song of Solomon 3:10 (v28) He made its pillars of silver, its bottom of gold, its seat of purple, the middle of it being paved with love, from the daughters of…
- Song of Solomon 5:8 (v28) I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love.
- Song of Solomon 5:16 (v28) His mouth is sweetness; yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 25:29 (v31) For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You will not be unpunished;…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv30–31 Isa. 2:29; Hos. 10:8; Rev. 6:16
Isa. 2:29; Hos. 10:8; Rev. 6:16
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv28–31 28 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of…
28 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
Ver. 28. Weep not for me] We are not so much to lament Christ’s dolorous sufferings (as Papists use to do in their stage playing descriptions of his passion) as to lay to heart and lament our sins, the cause of all. When a Papist came to Master Hooper at the stake, and said, "Sir, I am sorry to see you thus," "Be sorry for thyself, man," said hearty Hooper, "and lament thine own wickedness, for I am well, I thank God, and death to me for Christ’s sake is welcome." (Acts and Mon.)
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv28–31 For behold the days are coming,.... The time is…
For behold the days are coming,.... The time is hastening on; yet a little while, a few years more, and such times of distress will be:
in the which they shall say; or it shall be commonly said; it will be in every one's mouth:
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blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps that never gave suck; that is, happy wilt those persons be who have no children, to be starved to death, for want of bread; or to be killed with the sword before their eyes, which must greatly enhance their own miseries. Dr. Hammond thinks, that one passage particularly is referred to, related by Josephus; that when Titus had so closely encompassed the city with a wall, that there was no coming out for provisions, upon which a sore famine commenced, so that they fed on dung and dirt, and shoes, and girdles, one rich and noble woman, whose name was Mary, the daughter of Eleazar, being stripped of all she had, by the seditious, killed her own child, and dressed it, and ate part of it; and the other part being found by the soldiers that broke in upon her, the news of this shocking fact was spread all over the city, and every one looked with horror upon it, and with the same compassion, as if they had done it themselves: and then might those words be said, "blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare", &c. who, though starving themselves, were under no temptation to do such a detestable action.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv30–31 Hosea x, 8.
Hosea x, 8.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv28, 30, 31 Verse 28. Weep not for me] Many pious persons…
Verse 28. Weep not for me] Many pious persons have been greatly distressed in their minds, because they could not weep on reading or hearing of the sufferings of Christ. For the relief of all such, let it be for ever known that no human spirit can possibly take any part in the passion of the Messiah. His sufferings were such as only God manifested in the flesh could bear; and, as they were all of an expiatory nature, no man can taste of or share in them. Besides, the sufferings of Christ are not a subject of sorrow to any man; but, on the contrary, of eternal rejoicing to the whole of a lost world. Some have even prayed to participate in the sufferings of Christ. The legend of St. Francis and his stigmata is well known. - He is fabled to have received the marks in his hands, feet, and side.
Relative to this point, there are many unwarrantable expressions used by religious people in their prayers and hymns. To give only one instance, how often do we hear these or similar words said or sung: -
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"Give me to feel thy agonies!
One drop of thy sad cup afford!"
Reader! one drop of this cup would bear down thy soul to endless ruin; and these agonies would annihilate the universe. He suffered alone: for of the people there was none with him; because his sufferings were to make an atonement for the sins of the world: and in the work of redemption he had no helper.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv28, 30 Luk 23:28-29. But Jesus turning, said, &c. — Jesus,…
Luk 23:28-29. But Jesus turning, said, &c. — Jesus, who ever felt the woes of others more than he did his own, forgetting his distress at the very time that it lay heaviest upon him, turned about, and with a benevolence and tenderness truly divine, said to them, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, &c. — Not that they were to be blamed for weeping for him, but commended rather: those hearts were hard indeed, that were not affected with such sufferings of such a person; but he bids them weep not only for him, but also and especially for themselves, and for their children, namely, because of the destruction that was coming upon Jerusalem, which some of them would probably live to see, and share in the calamities thereof; or at least their children would, for whom it behooved them to be solicitous. For the days are coming in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, &c. — As if he had said, “The calamities about to fall on you and your children are most terrible, and call for the bitterest lamentations; for in those days of vengeance you will vehemently wish that you had not given birth to a generation whose wickedness has rendered them objects of the divine wrath to a degree that never was experienced in the world before. And the thoughts of those calamities afflict my soul far more than the feeling of my own sufferings.” These words sufficiently imply that the days of distress and misery were coming, and would fall on them and on their children; which indeed they did in a most awful manner; though at that time there was not any appearance of such an immediate ruin: nor would the wisest politician have inferred it from the present state of affairs. The prediction was especially fulfilled during that grievous famine which so miserably afflicted Jerusalem during the siege. For, as Josephus reports, (Bell., Luk 5:10,) mothers snatched the food from their infants out of their very mouths: and again, in another place, (Bell., Luk 5:12,) the houses were full of women and children, who perished by famine. But Josephus relates a still more horrid story, which our Lord, with his spirit of prophecy, had probably in view. He says, (Bell., Luk 6:3,) “There was one Mary, the daughter of Eleazer, illustrious for her family and riches. She, having been stripped and plundered of all her substance and provisions by the soldiers, out of necessity and fury killed her own sucking child, and having boiled him, devoured half of him, and covering up the rest, preserved it for another time. The soldiers soon came, allured by the smell of victuals, and threatened to kill her immediately if she would not produce what she had dressed. But she replied, that she had preserved a good part for them, and uncovered the relict of her son. Dread and astonishment seized them, and they stood stupified at the sight. ‘But this,’ said she, ‘is my own son, and this my work. Eat, for even I have eaten. Be not you more tender than a woman, nor more compassionate than a mother. But, if you have a religious abhorrence of my victim, I truly have eaten half; and let the rest remain for me.’ They went away trembling, fearful to do this one thing; and hardly left this food for the mother. The whole city was struck with horrors” says the historian, “at this wickedness; and they were pronounced blessed, who died before they had heard or seen such great evils.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv28, 30, 31 Daughters of Jerusalem - Women of Jerusalem. This was…
Daughters of Jerusalem - Women of Jerusalem. This was a common mode of speaking among the Hebrews.
Weep for yourselves ... - This refers to the calamities that were about to come upon them in the desolation of their city by the Romans.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv28, 31 Weep not over me. If you knew the evils…
Weep not over me. If you knew the evils that threaten and must soon fall upon your city, upon yourselves, and upon you children, you would preserve your tears to deplore your own misfortunes. My death is for the good of mankind; but it will be fatal to your nation because you have been pleased to make it so. In the ruin of Jerusalem, which is at hand, happy shall they be who have no children. They shall save themselves the grief of seeing their sons and daughters perish miserably, and in some sort of suffering as many deaths as they have children to die. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv28, 30, 31 not for me, &c.--noble spirit of compassion, rising above…
not for me, &c.--noble spirit of compassion, rising above His own dread endurances, in tender commiseration of sufferings yet in the distance and far lighter, but without His supports and consolations!
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv28–31 28. Daughters of Jerusalem—A beautiful but now a sad…
28. Daughters of Jerusalem—A beautiful but now a sad title. It means
heiresses of woe. Weep not for me—A mere natural sympathy awakened even over the narrative of the Saviour’s crucifixion, though serving to attract attention to the solemn subject, and to be the entrance to deeper views, has in itself no saving power.
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But weep for yourselves—The Saviour does not condemn their tears for him, but warns them that they have not more than enough for their own fate.
And for your children—The younger married persons in this crowd probably saw and shared in the woes of the destruction of Jerusalem forty years later. But it must have been mostly the generation of their children who suffered the destruction itself.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv28–31 28. turning unto them said] The only recorded words…
28. turning unto them said] The only recorded words between His condemnation and crucifixion. Pity wrung from Him the utterance which anguish and violence had failed to extort.
Daughters of Jerusalem] The wailing women were not therefore His former Galilaean followers, Luk_8:2-3.
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for yourselves] Some of them at least would survive till the terrible days of the Siege.
and for your children] Comp. Mat_27:25, “His blood be on us and on our children.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv28–31 (28) Daughters of Jerusalem.—It is characteristic of the tenderness…
(28) Daughters of Jerusalem.—It is characteristic of the tenderness of our Lord’s sympathy that these were the first words recorded as coming from His lips after He left the presence of Pilate. The mocking, the scourging, the spitting, had all been borne in silence. Now He speaks, and His thoughts are of the far-off sufferings of others, rather than of those that were then falling upon Himself.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv28–31 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem.…
But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem. This address to them by the Lord indicates that the majority at least of this company of sympathizing women belonged to the holy city. Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. Again here, as on the cross, the utter unselfishness of the dying Master comes out. His thoughts in his darkest hour were never of himself. Here, apparently, for the first time since his last interrogation before Pilate does our Lord break silence. Stier beautifully calls this the first part of the Passion sermon of Christ. The second part consisted of the "seven words on the cross." "Weep," said our Lord here It is noticeable that it is the only time in his public teaching that he is reported to have told his listeners to weep. "The same lips whose gracious breath had dried so many tears now cry on the way to the cross, "Weep for yourselves, and for your children.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v29 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus finishes speaking to the crowd.
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For see
This introduces the reason why the women of Jerusalem should weep for themselves.
the days are coming
"there will soon be a time"
in which they will say
"when people will say"
the barren
"women who have not given birth to children"
the wombs that did not bear ... the breasts that did not nurse
These clauses are used to more fully describe "the barren." Those women neither gave birth nor nursed children. It may be helpful to combine these together with "the barren." AT: "the women who have never given birth to children or nursed babies"
Then
at that time
to the hills
Words are left out to keep the phrase short. AT: "they will say to the hills" (See: Ellipsis)
For if they do these things while the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?
Jesus uses a question to help the crowd understand that people are doing bad things now in good times, so certainly they will do worse things in the bad times in the future. AT: "You can see that they are doing these bad things while the tree is green, so you can be sure that they will do worse things when the tree is dry." (See: Rhetorical Question)
the tree is green
The green tree is a metaphor for something that is good. If your language has a similar metaphor, you should use it here. (See: Metaphor)
it is dry
The dry wood is a metaphor for something that will be useful only to burn. (See: Metaphor)
they
This can refer to either the Romans or the Jewish leaders, or no one in particular.
translationWords
bless
barren
womb
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv28–31 23:28 Jesus warned of the horrors that would come…
23:28 Jesus warned of the horrors that would come to Jerusalem during its siege and destruction in AD 70.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.