Luke 23 · a question people ask
Jesus said, "For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?" (23:31). What did he mean?
Luke gives his words and tells of no explanation. Jesus said them on the way, to the women who mourned and lamented him (23:27): "But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children." (23:28). He went on, "For behold, the days are coming in which they will say" (23:29), and "Then they will begin to tell the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and tell the hills, ‘Cover us.’" (23:30), and ended, "For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?" (23:31). He doesn't say who they are, what the green tree and the dry are, or which days he means, and Luke's Gospel tells of no event that keeps these words. These notes name none, bring in no history from outside the Bible, and apply the words to no city, people, war or date.
The verses
“A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who also mourned and lamented him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to tell the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and tell the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?””