Matthew 24:19
17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!
- KJV
- And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
- WEB
- But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days!
- ASV
- But woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days!
- DARBY
- But woe to those that are with child, and those that give suck in those days.
- BLB
- And woe to those having in womb and to those nursing in those days!
- ÅB
- Ve de gravide og de som ammer på den tiden!
- OTB
- Ve dem som er med barn og dem som gir die i de dager!
- B1930
- Ve de fruktsommelige og dem som gir die, i de dager!
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Luke 23:29–30
For, 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.
Read in contextDeuteronomy 28:53–56
And 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:
Read in contextLuke 21:23
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.
Read in contextMark 13:17–18
But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Read in contextLamentations 4:10
The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Read in contextLamentations 4:3–4
Even 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.
Read in contextHosea 13:16
Samaria 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.
Read in context2 Samuel 4:4
And 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.
Read in context