31 In that very hour there came certain Pharisees, saying to him, Get thee out, and go hence: for Herod would fain kill thee. 32 And he said unto them, Go and say to that fox, Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third _day_ I am perfected. 33 Nevertheless I must go on my way to-day and to-morrow and the _day_ following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen _gathereth_ her own brood under her wings, and ye would not! 35 Behold, your house is left unto you _desolate_: and I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until ye shall say, Blessed _is_ he that cometh in the name of the Lord. A report reached Jesus that Herod was threatening his life. This report was brought by the Pharisees who hoped that it would terrify the followers of Jesus and induce him to flee to Jerusalem where he would fall into the hands of the Jewish rulers. Instead, Jesus sent to the king a message of defiance and irony; it has no note of insolence, but reveals the courage and indignation of a true man. “Go and say to that fox”—Jesus thus addressed Herod because he saw the craftiness of the king. Herod did not wish the disrepute of killing another prophet so soon after the death of John, but he wished his realm to be rid of one whom he regarded as a dangerous leader; so he did not arrest Jesus but tried to put him to flight. The Pharisees were asked to bear this message to the king because Jesus saw that they were one with the king in the malicious cunning of their report. “Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures to-day and to-morrow and the third day I am perfected.” Thus Jesus declared that his time and task were divinely allotted; no king could shorten the time till the task was done. When his work was complete, then in his death and resurrection the glory and grace and power of Jesus would be made perfect. “Nevertheless I must go on my way.” Jesus was to leave Galilee and Perea, the realm of Herod, not because he feared the king, but in fulfillment of his task which would take him to Jerusalem. The explicit reference to Jerusalem was made in a tone of solemn irony, “For it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem;” that city had a monopoly in murdering prophets; it would be quite improper for Jesus to be killed in any other place.