Jeremiah 6:26

6:26 So I said, ¹  “Oh, my dear people, ²  put on sackcloth

and roll in ashes.

Mourn with painful sobs

as though you had lost your only child.

For any moment now ³  that destructive army ⁴ 

will come against us.”

Zechariah 12:10

12:10 “I will pour out on the kingship ⁵  of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, ⁶  the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. ⁷ 

Luke 7:12-13

7:12 As he approached the town gate, a man ⁸  who had died was being carried out, ⁹  the only son of his mother (who ¹⁰  was a widow ¹¹ ), and a large crowd from the town ¹²  was with her. 7:13 When ¹³  the Lord saw her, he had compassion ¹⁴  for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” ¹⁵ 

¹ tn These words are not in the text but are implicit from the context.

² tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the translator’s note there.

³ tn Heb “suddenly.”

⁴ tn Heb “the destroyer.”

⁵ tn Or “dynasty”; Heb “house.”

⁶ tc Because of the difficulty of the concept of the mortal piercing of God, the subject of this clause, and the shift of pronoun from “me” to “him” in the next, many mss read אַלֵי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (’ale ’et ’asher, “to the one whom,” a reading followed by NAB, NRSV) rather than the MT’s אֵלַי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (’ela ’et ’asher, “to me whom”). The reasons for such alternatives, however, are clear – they are motivated by scribes who found such statements theologically objectionable – and they should be rejected in favor of the more difficult reading (lectio difficilior) of the MT.

⁷ tn The Hebrew term בְּכוֹר (bÿkhor, “firstborn”), translated usually in the LXX by πρωτότοκος (prwtotokos), has unmistakable messianic overtones as the use of the Greek term in the NT to describe Jesus makes clear (cf. Col 1:15, 18). Thus, the idea of God being pierced sets the stage for the fatal wounding of Jesus, the Messiah and the Son of God (cf. John 19:37; Rev 1:7). Note that some English translations supply “son” from the context (e.g., NIV, TEV, NLT).

⁸ tn Grk “behold.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

⁹ tn That is, carried out for burial. This was a funeral procession.

¹⁰ tn Grk “and she.” The clause introduced by καί (kai) has been translated as a relative clause for the sake of English style.

¹¹ sn The description of the woman as a widow would mean that she was now socially alone and without protection in 1st century Jewish culture.

¹² tn Or “city.”

¹³ tn Grk “And seeing her, the Lord.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. The participle ἰδών (idwn) has been taken temporally.

¹⁴ sn He had compassion. It is unusual for Luke to note such emotion by Jesus, though the other Synoptics tend to mention it (Matt 14:14; Mark 6:34; Matt 15:32; Mark 8:2).

¹⁵ tn The verb κλαίω (klaiw) denotes the loud wailing or lamenting typical of 1st century Jewish mourning.