To nurse at the breast, to suckle — describing the most primal and intimate act of nourishment between mother and infant. Used both literally and in Jesus' prophetic warnings.
Jesus' use of thēlazō in his eschatological warnings ('Woe to those who are nursing infants in those days,' Matt 24:19) reveals His compassion amid judgment prophecy. He sees the most vulnerable — nursing mothers — and grieves for them. But in Luke 11:27, when a woman blesses the breasts that nursed Jesus, He redirects: 'Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.' Physical nurture points to spiritual nourishment.