Discovery BoxLuke 11:27 
Context11:27 As 1 he said these things, a woman in the crowd spoke out 2 to him, “Blessed is the womb 3 that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed!” 4
Luke 23:29
Context23:29 For this is certain: 5 The days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never nursed!’ 6
Luke 23:48
Context23:48 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. 7
1 tn Grk “And it happened that as.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
2 tn Grk “lifted up her voice and said.” This idiom is somewhat redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “spoke out.”
3 tn For this term see L&N 8.69.
4 sn Both the reference to the womb and the breasts form a figure of speech called metonymy. In this case the parts are mentioned instead of the whole; the meaning is “Blessed is your mother!” The warnings seem to have sparked a little nervousness that brought forth this response. In the culture a mother was valued for the accomplishments of her son. So this amounts to a compliment to Jesus.
5 tn Grk “For behold.”
6 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.
7 sn Some apparently regretted what had taken place. Beating their breasts was a sign of lamentation.
