Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you. How many times I wanted to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
This verse is the climax of Jesus’ words: a heart-worn cry and an expression of love toward a city that had become the place where the blood of God’s messengers was shed. Jesus repeats the city’s name, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” emphasizing his pain and longing. He reveals that God has many times sought to gather his people, like a hen gathers her chicks, to protect, warm, and save them, yet the people rejected that tender call. This word shows the depth of divine love and the tragedy of the human hardened heart: God desires to save, but a person does not desire to receive it. Jesus’ vivid image, “the hen with her chicks,” expresses motherlike care and gentle compassion, showing that rejected love wounds more deeply than hatred.