Matthew 24:19 — Community Reflections

MATTHEW 24:19 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!”

And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! The woe for pregnant and nursing women communicates the extreme difficulty of flight for those whose physical condition makes rapid movement impossible. The woe is not a condemnation but a compassionate lament over those who are most vulnerable in the moment of urgent flight.

Church Fathers on Matthew 24:19

As above He had obscurely intimated the end of Jerusalem; He now proceeds to a more plain announcement of it, citing a prophecy which should make them believe it.
Chrysostom · 4th century

That, 'Let him that readeth understand,' is said to call us to the mystic understanding of the place. What we read in Daniel is this; 'And in the midst of the week the sacrifice and the oblation shall be taken away, and in the temple shall be the abomination of desolations until the consummation of the time, and consummation shall be given upon the desolate.' [Dan 9:27, septuagint]
Jerome · 4th century

Luke, in order to shew that the abomination of desolation foretold by Daniel had reference to the time of the siege of Jerusalem, repeats these words of our Lord, 'When ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed by armies, then know ye that its desolation draweth nigh.' [Luke 21:20]
Augustine · 4th century · Ep. 199, 31

Read all 26 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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