21:3 For this reason my stomach churns; 1
cramps overwhelm me
like the contractions of a woman in labor.
I am disturbed 2 by what I hear,
horrified by what I see.
30:6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: 3
Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby?
Why then do I see all these strong men
grabbing their stomachs in pain like 4 a woman giving birth?
And why do their faces
turn so deathly pale?
30:7 Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is! 5
There has never been any like it.
It is a time of trouble for the descendants of Jacob,
but some of them will be rescued out of it. 6
13:13 The labor pains of a woman will overtake him,
but the baby will lack wisdom;
when the time arrives,
he will not come out of the womb!
1 tn Heb “my waist is filled with shaking [or “anguish”].”
2 tn Or perhaps, “bent over [in pain]”; cf. NRSV “I am bowed down.”
3 tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”
4 tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.
5 tn Heb “Alas [or Woe] for that day will be great.” For the use of the particle “Alas” to signal a time of terrible trouble, even to sound the death knell for someone, see the translator’s note on 22:13.
6 tn Heb “It is a time of trouble for Jacob but he will be saved out of it.”