Luke 13:34

34 ¹O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that ²kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! ³How often would I have ⁴gathered ⁵your children together ⁶as a hen gathers her brood ⁷under her wings, and ⁸you were not willing!

Luke 13:34 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 13:34

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets
These words, with what follow, as they stand in ( Matthew 23:37-39 ) were delivered by Christ, when he was in the temple at Jerusalem; but here they were spoken by him when in Galilee, in Herod's jurisdiction; so that it appears, that the same words were spoken by Christ at different times, in different places, and to different persons: unless it can be thought, that Luke transcribed them from Matthew, and inserts them here, on occasion of Christ's having mentioned the perishing of a prophet in Jerusalem; where many had been killed and put to death, in one way or another, and particularly in the following:

and stonest them that are sent unto thee;
as Zechariah, ( 2 Chronicles 24:20-22 )

how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen
doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not?
and therefore ought not to have been condemned as a false prophet by their sanhedrim, as he suggests he should be, and as he afterwards was; (See Gill on Matthew 23:37).

Luke 13:34 In-Context

32 And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.

33 Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. ’

34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

35 Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! ’”

Cross References

• 1. 13:34 For ver. 34, 35, see Matt. 23:37-39; [ch. 19:41-44]
• 2. 13:34 See Matt. 21:35
• 3. 13:34 [Matt. 26:55]
• 4. 13:34 [Ps. 147:2; Prov. 1:24]
• 5. 13:34 ch. 23:28
• 6. 13:34 [Deut. 32:11, 12]
• 7. 13:34 Ruth 2:12
• 8. 13:34 John 5:40