Lukas 13:34-35

13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ¹  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ²  How often I have longed ³  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ⁴  you would have none of it! ⁵  13:35 Look, your house is forsaken! ⁶  And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’” ⁷ 

Lukas 19:41-44

Jesus Weeps for Jerusalem under Judgment

19:41 Now ⁸  when Jesus ⁹  approached ¹⁰  and saw the city, he wept over it, 19:42 saying, “If you had only known on this day, ¹¹  even you, the things that make for peace! ¹²  But now they are hidden ¹³  from your eyes. 19:43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build ¹⁴  an embankment ¹⁵  against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. 19:44 They will demolish you ¹⁶  – you and your children within your walls ¹⁷  – and they will not leave within you one stone ¹⁸  on top of another, ¹⁹  because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” ²⁰ 

[13:34]  ¹ sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.

[13:34]  ² tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your… you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill… sent to you”).

[13:34]  ³ sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.

[13:34]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[13:34]  ⁵ tn Grk “you were not willing.”

[13:35]  ⁶ sn Your house is forsaken. The language here is from Jer 12:7 and 22:5. It recalls exilic judgment.

[13:35]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Ps 118:26. The judgment to come will not be lifted until the Lord returns. See Luke 19:41-44.

[19:41]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[19:41]  ⁹ tn Grk “he.”

[19:41]  ¹⁰ sn When Jesus approached and saw the city. This is the last travel note in Luke’s account (the so-called Jerusalem journey), as Jesus approached and saw the city before entering it.

[19:42]  ¹¹ sn On this day. They had missed the time of Messiah’s coming; see v. 44.

[19:42]  ¹² tn Grk “the things toward peace.” This expression seems to mean “the things that would ‘lead to,’ ‘bring about,’ or ‘make for’ peace.”

[19:42]  ¹³ sn But now they are hidden from your eyes. This becomes an oracle of doom in the classic OT sense; see Luke 13:31-35; 11:49-51; Jer 9:2; 13:7; 14:7. They are now blind and under judgment (Jer 15:5; Ps 122:6).

[19:43]  ¹⁴ sn Jesus now predicted the events that would be fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. The details of the siege have led some to see Luke writing this after Jerusalem’s fall, but the language of the verse is like God’s exilic judgment for covenant unfaithfulness (Hab 2:8; Jer 6:6, 14; 8:13-22; 9:1; Ezek 4:2; 26:8; Isa 29:1-4). Specific details are lacking and the procedures described (build an embankment against you) were standard Roman military tactics.

[19:43]  ¹⁵ sn An embankment refers to either wooden barricades or earthworks, or a combination of the two.

[19:44]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “They will raze you to the ground.”

[19:44]  sn The singular pronoun you refers to the city of Jerusalem personified.

[19:44]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “your children within you.” The phrase “[your] walls” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the city of Jerusalem, metaphorically pictured as an individual, is spoken of here.

[19:44]  ¹⁸ sn (Not) one stone on top of another is an idiom for total destruction.

[19:44]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “leave stone on stone.”

[19:44]  ²⁰ tn Grk “the time of your visitation.” To clarify what this refers to, the words “from God” are supplied at the end of the verse, although they do not occur in the Greek text.

[19:44]  sn You did not recognize the time of your visitation refers to the time God came to visit them. They had missed the Messiah; see Luke 1:68-79.