Deuteronomy 28:56-57

28:56 Likewise, the most ¹  tender and delicate of your women, who would never think of putting even the sole of her foot on the ground because of her daintiness, ²  will turn against her beloved husband, her sons and daughters, 28:57 and will secretly eat her afterbirth ³  and her newborn children ⁴  (since she has nothing else), ⁵  because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict you in your villages.

Lamentations 2:19-20

ק (Qof)

2:19 Get up! Cry out in the night ⁶ 

when the night watches start! ⁷ 

Pour out your heart ⁸  like water

before the face of the Lord! ⁹ 

Lift up your hands ¹⁰  to him

for your children’s lives; ¹¹ 

they are fainting ¹² 

at every street corner. ¹³ 

Jerusalem Speaks:

ר (Resh)

2:20 Look, O Lord! Consider! ¹⁴ 

Whom have you ever afflicted ¹⁵  like this?

Should women eat their offspring, ¹⁶ 

their healthy infants? ¹⁷ 

Should priest and prophet

be killed in the Lord’s ¹⁸  sanctuary?

Lamentations 4:3-4

ג (Gimel)

4:3 Even the jackals ¹⁹  nurse their young

at their breast, ²⁰ 

but my people ²¹  are cruel,

like ostriches ²²  in the desert.

ד (Dalet)

4:4 The infant’s tongue sticks

to the roof of its mouth due to thirst;

little children beg for bread, ²³ 

but no one gives them even a morsel. ²⁴ 

Lamentations 4:10

י (Yod)

4:10 The hands of tenderhearted women ²⁵ 

cooked their own children,

who became their food, ²⁶ 

when my people ²⁷  were destroyed. ²⁸ 

Hosea 9:14

9:14 Give them, O Lord –

what will you give them?

Give them wombs that miscarry,

and breasts that cannot nurse! ²⁹ 

Hosea 13:16

13:16 (14:1) ³⁰  Samaria will be held guilty, ³¹ 

because she rebelled against her God.

They will fall by the sword,

their infants will be dashed to the ground –

their ³²  pregnant women will be ripped open.

Matthew 24:19-21

24:19 Woe ³³  to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days! 24:20 Pray ³⁴  that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. 24:21 For then there will be great suffering ³⁵  unlike anything that has happened ³⁶  from the beginning of the world until now, or ever will happen.

Luke 21:23

21:23 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days! For there will be great distress ³⁷  on the earth and wrath against this people.

Luke 23:29

23:29 For this is certain: ³⁸  The days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never nursed!’ ³⁹ 

[28:56]  ¹ tc The LXX adds σφόδρα (sfodra, “very”) to bring the description into line with v. 54.

[28:56]  ² tn Heb “delicateness and tenderness.”

[28:57]  ³ tn Heb includes “that which comes out from between her feet.”

[28:57]  ⁴ tn Heb “her sons that she will bear.”

[28:57]  ⁵ tn Heb includes “in her need for everything.”

[2:19]  ⁶ tc The Kethib is written בַּלַּיִל (ballayil) a defective spelling for בַּלַּיְלָה (ballaylah, “night”). The Qere reads בַּלַּיְלָה (ballaylah, “night”), which is preserved in numerous medieval Hebrew mss.

[2:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “at the head of the watches.”

[2:19]  ⁸ tn The noun לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) functions here as a metonymy of association for the thoughts and emotions in the heart. The Hebrew לֵבָב (levav) includes the mind so that in some cases the translation “heart” implies an inappropriate division between the cognitive and affective. This context is certainly emotionally loaded, but as part of a series of admonitions to address God in prayer, these emotions are inextricably bound with the thoughts of the mind. The singular “heart” is retained in the translation to be consistent with the personification of Jerusalem (cf. v. 18).

[2:19]  ⁹ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[2:19]  ¹⁰ sn Lifting up the palms or hands is a metaphor for prayer.

[2:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “on account of the life of your children.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) refers to the “life” of their dying children (e.g., Lam 2:12). The singular noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”) is used as a collective, as the plural genitive noun that follows makes clear: “your children.”

[2:19]  ¹² tc The BHS editors and many commentators suggest that the fourth bicola in 2:19 is a late addition and should be deleted. Apart from the four sets of bicola in 1:7 and 2:19, every stanza in chapters 1-4 consists of three sets of bicola.

[2:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “at the head of every street.”

[2:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Look, O Lord! See!” When used in collocation with verbs of cognition, רָאָה (ra’ah) means “to see for oneself” or “to take notice” (1 Sam 26:12). The parallelism between seeing and understanding is often emphasized (e.g., Exod 16:6; Isa 5:19; 29:15; Job 11:11; Eccl 6:5). See also 1:11 and cf. 1:9, 12, 20; 3:50, 59, 60; 5:1.

[2:20]  ¹⁵ tn For the nuance “afflict” see the note at 1:12.

[2:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “their fruit.” The term פְּרִי (pÿri, “fruit”) is used figuratively to refer to children as the fruit of a mother’s womb (e.g., Gen 30:2; Deut 7:13; 28:4, 11, 18, 53; 30:9; Pss 21:11; 127:3; 132:11; Isa 13:18; Mic 6:7).

[2:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “infants of healthy childbirth.” The genitive-construct phrase עֹלֲלֵי טִפֻּחִים (’olale tippukhim) functions as an attributive genitive construction: “healthy newborn infants.” The noun טִפֻּחִים (tippukhim) appears only here. It is related to the verb טָפַח (tafakh), meaning “to give birth to a healthy child” or “to raise children” depending on whether the Arabic or Akkadian cognate is emphasized. For the related verb, see below at 2:22.

[2:20]  ¹⁸ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”) as at the beginning of the verse. See the tc note at 1:14.

[4:3]  ¹⁹ tn The noun תַּנִּין (tannin) means “jackals.” The plural ending ־ִין (-in) is diminutive (GKC 242 §87.e) (e.g., Lam 1:4).

[4:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “draw out the breast and suckle their young.”

[4:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”

[4:3]  ²² tc The MT Kethib form כִּי עֵנִים (ki ’enim) is by all accounts a textual corruption for כַּיְעֵנִים (kay’enim, “like ostriches”) which is preserved in the Qere and the medieval Hebrew mss, and reflected in the LXX.

[4:4]  ²³ tn Heb “bread.” The term “bread” might function as a synecdoche of specific (= bread) for general (= food); however, the following parallel line does indeed focus on the act of breaking bread in two.

[4:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “there is not a divider to them.” The term פָּרַשׂ (paras), Qal active participle ms from פָּרַס (paras, “to divide”) refers to the action of breaking bread in two before giving it to a person to eat (Isa 58:7; Jer 16:7; Lam 4:4). The form פָּרַשׂ (paras) is the alternate spelling of the more common פָּרַס (paras).

[4:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the hands of compassionate women.”

[4:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “eating.” The infinitive construct (from I בָּרָה, barah) is translated as a noun. Three passages employ the verb (2 Sam 3:35; 12:17; 13:5,6,10) for eating when ill or in mourning.

[4:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”

[4:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “in the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

[9:14]  ²⁹ tn Heb “breasts that shrivel up dry”; cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV “dry breasts.”

[13:16]  ³⁰ sn Beginning with 13:16, the verse numbers through 14:9 in the English Bible differ by one from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 13:16 ET = 14:1 HT, 14:1 ET = 14:2 HT, etc., through 14:9 ET = 14:10 HT. Thus ch. 14 in the Hebrew Bible has 10 verses.

[13:16]  ³¹ tn Or “must bear its guilt” (NIV similar); NLT “must bear the consequences of their guilt”; CEV “will be punished.”

[13:16]  ³² tn Heb “his.” This is a collective singular, as recognized by almost all English versions.

[24:19]  ³³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[24:20]  ³⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[24:21]  ³⁵ tn Traditionally, “great tribulation.”

[24:21]  ³⁶ sn Suffering unlike anything that has happened. Some refer this event to the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. While the events of a.d. 70 may reflect somewhat the comments Jesus makes here, the reference to the scope and severity of this judgment strongly suggest that much more is in view. Most likely Jesus is referring to the great end-time judgment on Jerusalem in the great tribulation.

[21:23]  ³⁷ sn Great distress means that this is a period of great judgment.

[23:29]  ³⁸ tn Grk “For behold.”

[23:29]  ³⁹ tn Grk “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the breasts that have not nursed!”