For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Ver. 21. Tribulation, such as was not, &c.] Those very days "shall be affliction;" so Mark hath it, Mark 13:19, εσονται αι ημεραι εκειναι θλιψις. As if the very time were nothing else but affliction itself. He who can read the history of it without tears hath hardly the heart of a man in him. Besides those many that perished within the walls, Josephus tells us of 1,100,000 of them slain by the Romans, and 97,000 carried captive. Oh, see the severity of God and tremble! Romans 11:22. Alterius perditio tua sit cautio. Scipio wept when he saw Carthage on fire. And when Saguntum was taken, the Romans were as much affected as if Hannibal fuisset ad portas, the enemy had been beating upon the walls of the Capitol.