Matthew 24:19

And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
woe	οὐαὶ ouai	G3759	"woe" · interjection
unto them that are	ἐχούσαις echousais	G2192	to hold (used in very various applications · verb — present active participle, dative plural feminine
with child	γαστρὶ gastri	G1064	the stomach · noun — dative singular feminine
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
to them that give suck	θηλαζούσαις thēlazousais	G2337	to suckle · verb — present active participle, dative plural feminine
in	ἐν en	G1722	"in · preposition
those	ἐκείναις ekeinais	G1565	that one (or (neuter) thing) · demonstrative pronoun — dative plural feminine
days	ἡμέραις. hēmerais	G2250	day · noun — dative plural feminine

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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 nev…
Deuteronomy 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 s…
Luke 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 u…
Mark 13:17-18 But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Lamentations 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.
Lamentations 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…
Hosea 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,…
2 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 Jezre…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

John Gill on Matthew 24:19

And woe unto them that are with child,.... Not that it should be criminal for them to be with child, or a judgment on them; for it was always esteemed a blessing to be fruitful, and bear children: but this expresses the miserable circumstances such would be in, who, by reason of their heavy burdens, would not be able to make so speedy a flight, as the case would require; or would be obliged to stay at home, and endure all the miseries of the siege: so that these words, as the following are not expressive of sin, or punishment, but of pity and concern for their misery and distress: and to them that give suck in those days; whose tender affection to their infants will not suffer them to leave…

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John Calvin on Matthew 24:15-28

Matthew 24:15-28 Matthew 24:15-28 Mark 13:14-23 Luke 21:20-24 15. When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which is described by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, (let him that readeth understand,) 16. Then let them who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17. Let not him who is on the housetop go down to carry anything out of his house; 18. And let not him who is in the field return to carry away his clothes. 19. But woe to the women with child, and to them that give suck in those days. 20. And pray that your flight may not be in the winter, nor on the sabbath. [134] 21. For there will then be great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 24:15

Daniel . . . spoke about a profaning or desolating of the Temple (see Dan 8:13; 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). • the sacrilegious object that causes desecration: Attempts to identify a specific fulfillment include: (1) a false priest assuming the priesthood (see Josephus, War 4.3.6-10); (2) the presence of unlawful images of God or humans, or certain humans themselves (such as Antiochus Epiphanes, Caligula, Vespasian, or Titus) who were not to be allowed within the Temple precincts (see Josephus, War 4.4.1–4.7.1); (3) the presence of the antichrist in the Temple (cp. 1 Maccabees 1:54-64; 2 Maccabees 8:17). • Reader, pay attention! This covert statement reflects a special bond between writer and reader…

The Church Fathers

Or because that will not be a time of showing pity, neither upon them who are with child, nor upon them who are suckling, nor upon their infants.
— Origen of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

(Aug. Serm. App. 75. 2.) Or, They that are with child, are they who covet what belongs to others; they that give suck, are they who have already forcibly taken that which they coveted; to them shall be woe in the day of judgment. Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath day; ...
— Pseudo-Augustine ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

A third saying let them add, "Let us eat, and drink, and marry, for to-morrow we shall die; " not reflecting that the "woe" (denounced) "on such as are with child, and are giving suck," will fall far more heavily and bitterly in the "universal shaking" of the entire world than it did in the devastation of one fraction of Judaea.
— Tertullian, On Monogamy

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Matthew, Gospel according to — The author of this book was beyond a doubt the Matthew, an apostle of our Lord, whose name it bears. He wrote the Gospel of Christ according to his own plans and aims, and from his own point of view,…
Olves, Mount of — So called from the olive trees with which its sides are clothed, is a mountain ridge on the east of Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:7; Ezek. 11:23; Zech. 14:4), from which it is separated by the valley of…
Christ, The Prophet · Foretold things to come — Foretold things to come
Second Coming Of Christ, The · Signs preceding — Signs preceding

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).