Luke 23:28-30

23:28 But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, 1  do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves 2  and for your children. 23:29 For this is certain: 3  The days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never nursed!’ 4  23:30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 5  ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ 6 

1 sn The title Daughters of Jerusalem portrays these women mourning as representatives of the nation.

map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

2 sn Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves. Judgment now comes on the nation (see Luke 19:41-44) for this judgment of Jesus. Ironically, they mourn the wrong person – they should be mourning for themselves.

3 tn Grk “For behold.”

4 tn Grk “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the breasts that have not nursed!”

sn Normally barrenness is a sign of judgment, because birth would be seen as a sign of blessing. The reversal of imagery indicates that something was badly wrong.

5 sn The figure of crying out to the mountains ‘Fall on us!’ (appealing to creation itself to hide them from God’s wrath), means that a time will come when people will feel they are better off dead (Hos 10:8).

6 sn An allusion to Hos 10:8 (cf. Rev 6:16).