Jesus laments over Jerusalem in Luke 13:34: 'How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood (νοσσιάν) under her wings, but you were not willing!' The image is tender and domestic: a mother hen protecting her chicks from danger by sheltering them beneath her wings. The term denotes the brood or nest of young birds collectively. Jesus casts himself in the maternal role—offering protection, warmth, and safety to vulnerable Israel. The tragedy is their refusal. Despite repeated prophetic calls and now the Messiah's own presence, Jerusalem rejects the shelter offered. The hen's protective instinct finds no corresponding trust in the chicks. Judgment looms, but not because God is unwilling to save—only because the city is unwilling to be saved.