Discovery BoxGenesis 3:16
Context3:16 To the woman he said,
“I will greatly increase 1 your labor pains; 2
with pain you will give birth to children.
You will want to control your husband, 3
but he will dominate 4 you.”
Isaiah 26:16-18
Context26:16 O Lord, in distress they looked for you;
they uttered incantations because of your discipline. 5
26:17 As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver
and strains and cries out because of her labor pains,
so were we because of you, O Lord.
26:18 We were pregnant, we strained,
we gave birth, as it were, to wind. 6
We cannot produce deliverance on the earth;
people to populate the world are not born. 7
Jeremiah 30:6-7
Context30:6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: 8
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 9 a woman giving birth?
And why do their faces
turn so deathly pale?
30:7 Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is! 10
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. 11
Hosea 13:13-14
Context13:13 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!
13:14 Will I deliver them from the power of Sheol? No, I will not! 12
Will I redeem them from death? No, I will not!
O Death, bring on your plagues! 13
O Sheol, bring on your destruction! 14
My eyes will not show any compassion! 15
Micah 4:10
Context4:10 Twist and strain, 16 Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!
For you will leave the city
and live in the open field.
You will go to Babylon,
but there you will be rescued.
There the Lord will deliver 17 you
from the power 18 of your enemies.
Revelation 12:2-5
Context12:2 She 19 was pregnant and was screaming in labor pains, struggling 20 to give birth. 12:3 Then 21 another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadem crowns. 22 12:4 Now 23 the dragon’s 24 tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. Then 25 the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. 12:5 So 26 the woman gave birth to a son, a male child, 27 who is going to rule 28 over all the nations 29 with an iron rod. 30 Her 31 child was suddenly caught up to God and to his throne,
[3:16] 1 tn The imperfect verb form is emphasized and intensified by the infinitive absolute from the same verb.
[3:16] 2 tn Heb “your pain and your conception,” suggesting to some interpreters that having a lot of children was a result of the judgment (probably to make up for the loss through death). But the next clause shows that the pain is associated with conception and childbirth. The two words form a hendiadys (where two words are joined to express one idea, like “good and angry” in English), the second explaining the first. “Conception,” if the correct meaning of the noun, must be figurative here since there is no pain in conception; it is a synecdoche, representing the entire process of childbirth and child rearing from the very start. However, recent etymological research suggests the noun is derived from a root הרר (hrr), not הרה (hrh), and means “trembling, pain” (see D. Tsumura, “A Note on הרוֹן (Gen 3,16),” Bib 75 [1994]: 398-400). In this case “pain and trembling” refers to the physical effects of childbirth. The word עִצְּבוֹן (’itsÿvon, “pain”), an abstract noun related to the verb (עָצַב, ’atsav), includes more than physical pain. It is emotional distress as well as physical pain. The same word is used in v. 17 for the man’s painful toil in the field.
[3:16] 3 tn Heb “and toward your husband [will be] your desire.” The nominal sentence does not have a verb; a future verb must be supplied, because the focus of the oracle is on the future struggle. The precise meaning of the noun תְּשׁוּקָה (tÿshuqah, “desire”) is debated. Many interpreters conclude that it refers to sexual desire here, because the subject of the passage is the relationship between a wife and her husband, and because the word is used in a romantic sense in Song 7:11 HT (7:10 ET). However, this interpretation makes little sense in Gen 3:16. First, it does not fit well with the assertion “he will dominate you.” Second, it implies that sexual desire was not part of the original creation, even though the man and the woman were told to multiply. And third, it ignores the usage of the word in Gen 4:7 where it refers to sin’s desire to control and dominate Cain. (Even in Song of Songs it carries the basic idea of “control,” for it describes the young man’s desire to “have his way sexually” with the young woman.) In Gen 3:16 the
[3:16] 4 tn The Hebrew verb מָשַׁל (mashal) means “to rule over,” but in a way that emphasizes powerful control, domination, or mastery. This also is part of the baser human nature. The translation assumes the imperfect verb form has an objective/indicative sense here. Another option is to understand it as having a modal, desiderative nuance, “but he will want to dominate you.” In this case, the
[26:16] 5 tn The meaning of this verse is unclear. It appears to read literally, “O Lord, in distress they visit you, they pour out [?] an incantation, your discipline to them.” פָּקַד (paqad) may here carry the sense of “seek with interest” (cf. Ezek 23:21 and BDB 823 s.v.) or “seek in vain” (cf. Isa 34:16), but it is peculiar for the Lord to be the object of this verb. צָקוּן (tsaqun) may be a Qal perfect third plural form from צוּק (tsuq, “pour out, melt”), though the verb is not used of pouring out words in its two other occurrences. Because of the appearance of צַר (tsar, “distress”) in the preceding line, it is tempting to emend the form to a noun and derive it from צוּק (“be in distress”) The term לַחַשׁ (lakhash) elsewhere refers to an incantation (Isa 3:3; Jer 8:17; Eccl 10:11) or amulet (Isa 3:20). Perhaps here it refers to ritualistic prayers or to magical incantations used to ward off evil.
[26:18] 6 tn On the use of כְּמוֹ (kÿmo, “like, as”) here, see BDB 455 s.v. Israel’s distress and suffering, likened here to the pains of childbirth, seemed to be for no purpose. A woman in labor endures pain with the hope that a child will be born; in Israel’s case no such positive outcome was apparent. The nation was like a woman who strains to bring forth a child, but can’t push the baby through to daylight. All her effort produces nothing.
[26:18] 7 tn Heb “and the inhabitants of the world do not fall.” The term נָפַל (nafal) apparently means here, “be born,” though the Qal form of the verb is not used with this nuance anywhere else in the OT. (The Hiphil appears to be used in the sense of “give birth” in v. 19, however.) The implication of verse 18b seems to be that Israel hoped its suffering would somehow end in deliverance and an increase in population. The phrase “inhabitants of the world” seems to refer to the human race in general, but the next verse, which focuses on Israel’s dead, suggests the referent may be more limited.
[30:6] 8 tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”
[30:6] 9 tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.
[30:7] 10 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.
[30:7] 11 tn Heb “It is a time of trouble for Jacob but he will be saved out of it.”
[13:14] 12 tn The translation of the first two lines of this verse reflects the interpretation adopted. There are three interpretive options to v. 14: (1) In spite of Israel’s sins, the
[13:14] 13 tn Heb “Where, O Death, are your plagues?” (so NIV).
[13:14] 14 tn Heb “Where, O Sheol, is your destruction?” (NRSV similar).
[13:14] 15 tn Heb “Compassion will be hidden from my eyes” (NRSV similar; NASB “from my sight”).
[4:10] 16 tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”
[4:10] 17 tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
[4:10] 18 tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.
[12:2] 19 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
[12:2] 20 tn Grk “and being tortured,” though βασανίζω (basanizw) in this context refers to birth pangs. BDAG 168 s.v. 2.b states, “Of birth-pangs (Anth. Pal. 9, 311 βάσανος has this mng.) Rv 12:2.” The καί (kai) has not been translated.
[12:3] 21 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
[12:3] 22 tn For the translation of διάδημα (diadhma) as “diadem crown” see L&N 6.196.
[12:4] 23 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate that this remark is virtually parenthetical.
[12:4] 24 tn Grk “its”; the referent (the dragon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[12:4] 25 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
[12:5] 26 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the conclusion of the anticipated birth.
[12:5] 27 tn On this term BDAG 135 s.v. ἄρσην states: “male…The neut. ἄρσεν Rv 12:5, difft. vs. 13, comes fr. Is 66:7 and is in apposition to υἱόν. On the juxtaposition s. FBoll, ZNW 15, 1914, 253; BOlsson, Glotta 23, ’34, 112.”
[12:5] 29 tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).
[12:5] 30 tn Or “scepter.” The Greek term ῥάβδος (rJabdo") can mean either “rod” or “scepter.”
[12:5] 31 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
