Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Luke 13:34 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 34. 34O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Luke 13:34 voices Jesus' maternal gathering desire within a lament, not Christian contempt for Jerusalem.
Read It With
- Luke 13:31–13:35
Read Luke 13:34 with 13:31–13:35. In isolation, this contribution—voices Jesus' maternal gathering desire within a lament, not Christian contempt for Jerusalem—can be detached from its speaker, audience, scene or teaching sequence, and outcome. The complete unit establishes: Warned that Herod seeks his life, Jesus continues his work, names Jerusalem's prophet-killing history, longs to gather its children like a hen, and announces a desolate house until future acclamation.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Luke 13:34 voices Jesus' maternal gathering desire within a lament, not Christian contempt for Jerusalem. This precise contribution belongs inside “Jesus Defies Herod and Laments Jerusalem” because Warned that Herod seeks his life, Jesus continues his work, names Jerusalem's prophet-killing history, longs to gather its children like a hen, and announces a desolate house until future acclamation.
Follow the Context
- Identify the actors, setting, and initiating speech or action in Luke 13:31–13:35.
- Warned that Herod seeks his life, Jesus continues his work, names Jerusalem's prophet-killing history, longs to gather its children like a hen, and announces a desolate house until future acclamation.
- Hold this material interpretive limit in view: Pharisees here warn Jesus; they are not a single hostile bloc. The lament is Jewish prophetic grief and hope, not Christian permission to condemn Jews or celebrate Jerusalem's suffering.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
This verse does not detach its specific contribution—voices Jesus' maternal gathering desire within a lament, not Christian contempt for Jerusalem—from the complete unit or override the unit's explicit boundary: The lament does not authorize antisemitism, victim blame, fatalism, nationalist ownership of Jerusalem, or portraying every Pharisee as an enemy.
What Remains True
Luke 13:34 voices Jesus' maternal gathering desire within a lament, not Christian contempt for Jerusalem. Read inside Luke 13:31–13:35, this contribution supports the unit's proportionate truth: Warned that Herod seeks his life, Jesus continues his work, names Jerusalem's prophet-killing history, longs to gather its children like a hen, and announces a desolate house until future acclamation. Its use remains accountable to affected people and the unit's explicit boundary.
How It Can Shape Life
- Luke 13:34 voices Jesus' maternal gathering desire within a lament, not Christian contempt for Jerusalem. Its faithful response is proportionate to that role: Continue a responsible mission under threat without bravado, and let Jesus' lament produce grief rather than hatred, fatalism, or triumph over Jerusalem and Jewish people.
Teach It Back
Explain Luke 13:34's specific contribution to Luke 13:31–13:35: voices Jesus' maternal gathering desire within a lament, not Christian contempt for Jerusalem. Include the preceding and following movement, one source-controlled uncertainty, one affected person or group, and what the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Luke 13:31–13:35 — Jesus Defies Herod and Laments JerusalemSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and coverage.
Exact location: Luke 13:31–13:35, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and sentence relations; the edition is not treated as a complete apparatus.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT official repository, data/sblgnt/text/Luke.txt, 13:31–13:35
Open the Luke Greek text file ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Luke
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, KJV-language clarification, historical notes, Synoptic parallels, and textual alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Luke PDF, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to Luke 13:31–13:35
Open source ↗