Translation
And pray that your flight not be in winter, or on the Sabbath.
Go to footnote numberParaphrase
Pray that nature does not add to your misery, and that religious obligations don’t cause you additional limitations.
Footnotes
1
The Law included regulations about how much could be carried on the Sabbath and how far could be walked on the Sabbath. If the attacks of the Romans occurred on a Sabbath the Jews (including the disciples) would be faced with a choice between survival and maintaining proper religious protocol. To us it would seem like an obvious choice, but if they focused only on survival, they would have a guilty conscience after that. There have been other times when nature and ruthless men have worked together to multiply the suffering of the victims, but the strict religious regulations were an added factor.
Fortunately, the siege of Jerusalem started in April and the final destruction of the temple was completed in August, so it was not during the winter. Some attacks may have happened on the Sabbath, but not the final battle that destroyed the temple.