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Matthew 23:37

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

KJV

Ἱερουσαλὴμ Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτήν, ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου, ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγει τὰ νοσσία αὐτῆς ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε.

Greek NT

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, quæ occidis prophetas, et lapidas eos, qui ad te missi sunt, quoties volui congregare filios tuos, quemadmodum gallina congregat pullos suos sub alas, et noluisti ?

Vulgate

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

ASV

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldst not?

Douay-Rheims

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In the original Greek

21 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.

αὐτός
autos
pronoun · 5564×
θέλω
thelo
verb · 208×
καί
kai
conjunction · 8973×
λιθοβολέω
lithoboleo
verb · 8×
νοσσίον
nossion
noun · 1×
οὐ
ou
particle · 1626×
ποσάκις
posakis
adverb · 3×
προφήτης
prophetes
noun · 145×
πρός
pros
preposition · 697×
πτέρυξ
pterux
noun · 5×
σύ
su
pronoun · 1071×
τέκνον
teknon
noun · 99×
τρόπος
tropos
noun · 13×
ἀποκτείνω
apokteino
verb · 74×
ἀποστέλλω
apostello
verb · 131×
ἐπισυνάγω
episunago
verb · 8×
Ἱερουσαλήμ
ierousalem
noun · 79×
o
article · 19778×
ὄρνις
ornis
noun · 2×
ὅς
os
relative_pronoun · 1404×
ὑπό
upo
preposition · 221×

Textual variants

3 variant units attested by manuscript witnesses and modern critical editions.

minor
SBLGNT: ἀποκτείνουσα | WH/Treg/NIV: ἀποκτείνουσα | RP: ἀποκτένουσα
  • ἀποκτείνουσαSBLGNT
  • ἀποκτείνουσαWestcott-Hort, Tregelles, Reader's GNT (NA27)
  • ἀποκτένουσαRobinson-Pierpont
source: sblgnt-apparatus
minor
SBLGNT: ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγει | WH/Treg/NIV: ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγει | RP: ἐπισυνάγει ὄρνις
  • ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγειSBLGNT
  • ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγειWestcott-Hort, Tregelles, Reader's GNT (NA27)
  • ἐπισυνάγει ὄρνιςRobinson-Pierpont
source: sblgnt-apparatus
minor
SBLGNT: αὐτῆς | WH/Treg/NIV: αὐτῆς | RP: ἑαυτῆς
  • αὐτῆςSBLGNT
  • αὐτῆςWestcott-Hort, Tregelles, Reader's GNT (NA27)
  • ἑαυτῆςRobinson-Pierpont
source: sblgnt-apparatus

Themes

Historic Christian voices

9 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

§558Jesus recalls the martyrdom of the prophets who had been put to death in Jerusalem. Nevertheless he persists in calling Jerusalem to gather around him: "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!"306 When Jerusalem comes into view he weeps over her and expresses once again his heart's desire: "Would that…
The prophets were sent from one and the same Father from whom the Son was sent. 1. Which [God] the Lord does not reject, nor does He say that the prophets [spoke] from another god than His Father; nor from any other essence, but from one and the same Father; nor that any other being made the things in the world, except His own Father, when He speaks as follows in His teaching: …
Men are possessed of free will, and endowed with the faculty of making a choice. It is not true, therefore, that some are by nature good, and others bad. 1. This expression [of our Lord], How often would I have gathered your children together, and you would not, Matthew 23:37 set forth the ancient law of human liberty, because God made man a free [agent] from the beginning, pos…
2. See by how many things He has warned them. He said, You condemn your fathers, in that you say, We would not have been partakers with them; and this is no little thing to shame them. He said, While ye condemn them, you do worse things, even ye yourselves; and this is sufficient to cover them with disgrace. He said, These things shall not be without punishment; and hence he im…
1. As wealth is wont to hurl into destruction those who are not heedful, so also is power; the first leads into covetousness, the second into pride. See, for instance, how the subject multitude of the Jews is sound, and their rulers corrupt; for that the first of these believed Christ, the Evangelists continually assert, saying, that many of the multitude believed on Him John 7…
Covers the completion of the Galilee campaign, the Zealot takeover of Jerusalem, factional fighting between Zealot groups, and the destruction of the moderate priestly leadership. Josephus portrays the internal strife as fulfilling divine judgment on a wicked generation — language that echoes Jesus's own warnings.
Mara bar Serapion, a Syrian Stoic philosopher writing to his son from prison, compares the fates of three wise men unjustly killed: Socrates, Pythagoras, and "the wise King" of the Jews. "What advantage did the Athenians gain from putting Socrates to death? What advantage did the men of Samos gain from burning Pythagoras? What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wi…

Cross-references

  • 1Chr 21:15 — And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand.
  • 1Thess 2:15 — Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
  • 1Thess 2:15 — Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
  • 2Chr 24:21 — And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.
  • 2Chr 36:15 — And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:
  • 2Cor 6:1 — We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
  • Acts 7:51 — Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
  • Deut 5:29 — O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
  • Deut 32:11 — As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
  • Deut 33:12 — And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.
  • Ezek 10:18 — Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.
  • Gal 4:25 — For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
  • Hos 7:1 — When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth witho
  • Hos 11:2 — As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
  • Hos 11:7 — And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
  • Hos 11:8 — How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.
  • Isa 4:4 — When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
  • Isa 5:4 — What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
  • Isa 18:1 — Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
  • Isa 26:20 — Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
  • Isa 30:15 — For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
  • Isa 48:18 — O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
  • Isa 49:4 — Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.
  • Isa 50:2 — Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the
  • Isa 54:7 — For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
  • Isa 65:2 — I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
  • Jer 2:30 — In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
  • Jer 4:14 — O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
  • Jer 6:8 — Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.
  • Jer 6:16 — Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
  • Jer 7:13 — And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
  • Jer 11:7 — For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.
  • Jer 25:3 — From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising e
  • Jer 26:23 — And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.
  • Jer 32:31 — For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face,
  • Jer 35:15 — I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve
  • Jer 42:9 — And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him;
  • Jer 44:4 — Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.
  • John 3:11 — Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
  • John 5:40 — And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.