Genesis 35:16-18

35:16 They traveled on from Bethel, and when Ephrath was still some distance away, ¹  Rachel went into labor ²  – and her labor was hard. 35:17 When her labor was at its hardest, ³  the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you are having another son.” ⁴  35:18 With her dying breath, ⁵  she named him Ben-Oni. ⁶  But his father called him Benjamin instead. ⁷ 

Genesis 35:1

The Return to Bethel

35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once ⁸  to Bethel ⁹  and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” ¹⁰ 

Genesis 4:19-21

4:19 Lamech took two wives for himself; the name of the first was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. 4:20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the first ¹¹  of those who live in tents and keep ¹²  livestock. 4:21 The name of his brother was Jubal; he was the first of all who play the harp and the flute.

Psalms 48:6

48:6 Look at them shake uncontrollably, ¹³ 

like a woman writhing in childbirth. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 13:8

13:8 They panic –

cramps and pain seize hold of them

like those of a woman who is straining to give birth.

They look at one another in astonishment;

their faces are flushed red. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 21:3

21:3 For this reason my stomach churns; ¹⁶ 

cramps overwhelm me

like the contractions of a woman in labor.

I am disturbed ¹⁷  by what I hear,

horrified by what I see.

Isaiah 26:17-18

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. ¹⁸ 

We cannot produce deliverance on the earth;

people to populate the world are not born. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 53:11

53:11 Having suffered, he will reflect on his work,

he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done. ²⁰ 

“My servant ²¹  will acquit many, ²² 

for he carried their sins. ²³ 

Jeremiah 4:31

4:31 In fact, ²⁴  I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor,

a cry of anguish like that of a woman giving birth to her first baby.

It is the cry of Daughter Zion ²⁵  gasping for breath,

reaching out for help, ²⁶  saying, “I am done in! ²⁷ 

My life is ebbing away before these murderers!”

Jeremiah 6:24

6:24 The people cry out, ²⁸  “We have heard reports about them!

We have become helpless with fear! ²⁹ 

Anguish grips us,

agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby!

Jeremiah 13:21

13:21 What will you say ³⁰  when the Lord ³¹  appoints as rulers over you those allies

that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such? ³² 

Then anguish and agony will grip you

like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. ³³ 

Jeremiah 22:23

22:23 You may feel as secure as a bird

nesting in the cedars of Lebanon.

But oh how you ³⁴  will groan ³⁵  when the pains of judgment come on you.

They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby. ³⁶ 

Jeremiah 49:24

49:24 The people of Damascus will lose heart and turn to flee.

Panic will grip them.

Pain and anguish will seize them

like a woman in labor.

Micah 4:9-10

4:9 Jerusalem, why are you ³⁷  now shouting so loudly? ³⁸ 

Has your king disappeared? ³⁹ 

Has your wise leader ⁴⁰  been destroyed?

Is this why ⁴¹  pain grips ⁴²  you as if you were a woman in labor?

4:10 Twist and strain, ⁴³  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 ⁴⁴  you

from the power ⁴⁵  of your enemies.

John 16:21

16:21 When a woman gives birth, she has distress ⁴⁶  because her time ⁴⁷  has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being ⁴⁸  has been born into the world. ⁴⁹ 

John 16:1

16:1 “I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. ⁵⁰ 

John 5:3

5:3 A great number of sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying in these walkways.

John 5:1

Healing a Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda

5:1 After this ⁵¹  there was a Jewish feast, ⁵²  and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ⁵³ 

John 2:15

2:15 So he made a whip of cords ⁵⁴  and drove them all out of the temple courts, ⁵⁵  with the sheep and the oxen. He scattered the coins of the money changers ⁵⁶  and overturned their tables.

[35:16]  ¹ tn Heb “and there was still a stretch of the land to go to Ephrath.”

[35:16]  ² tn Normally the verb would be translated “she gave birth,” but because that obviously had not happened yet, it is better to translate the verb as ingressive, “began to give birth” (cf. NIV) or “went into labor.”

[35:17]  ³ tn The construction uses a Hiphil infinitive, which E. A. Speiser classifies as an elative Hiphil. The contrast is with the previous Piel: there “she had hard labor,” and here, “her labor was at its hardest.” Failure to see this, Speiser notes, has led to redundant translations and misunderstandings (Genesis [AB], 273).

[35:17]  ⁴ sn Another son. The episode recalls and fulfills the prayer of Rachel at the birth of Joseph (Gen 30:24): “may he add” another son.

[35:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the going out of her life, for she was dying.” Rachel named the child with her dying breath.

[35:18]  ⁶ sn The name Ben-Oni means “son of my suffering.” It is ironic that Rachel’s words to Jacob in Gen 30:1, “Give me children or I’ll die,” take a different turn here, for it was having the child that brought about her death.

[35:18]  ⁷ tn The disjunctive clause is contrastive.

[35:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “arise, go up.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.

[35:1]  ⁹ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[35:1]  ¹⁰ sn God is calling on Jacob to fulfill his vow he made when he fled from…Esau (see Gen 28:20-22).

[4:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “father.” In this passage the word “father” means “founder,” referring to the first to establish such lifestyles and occupations.

[4:20]  ¹² tn The word “keep” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation. Other words that might be supplied instead are “tend,” “raise” (NIV), or “have” (NRSV).

[48:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “trembling seizes them there.” The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).

[48:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[with] writhing like one giving birth.”

[13:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “their faces are faces of flames.” Their faces are flushed with fear and embarrassment.

[21:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “my waist is filled with shaking [or “anguish”].”

[21:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or perhaps, “bent over [in pain]”; cf. NRSV “I am bowed down.”

[26:18]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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.

[53:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he will be satisfied by his knowledge,” i.e., “when he knows.” The preposition is understood as temporal and the suffix as a subjective genitive. Some take בְּדַעְתּוֹ (bÿda’to, “by his knowledge”) with what follows and translate “by knowledge of him,” understanding the preposition as instrumental and the suffix as objective.

[53:11]  ²¹ sn The song ends as it began (cf. 52:13-15), with the Lord announcing the servant’s vindication and exaltation.

[53:11]  ²² tn Heb “he will acquit, a righteous one, my servant, many.” צַדִּיק (tsadiq) may refer to the servant, but more likely it is dittographic (note the preceding verb יַצְדִּיק, yatsdiq). The precise meaning of the verb (the Hiphil of צָדַק, tsadaq) is debated. Elsewhere the Hiphil is used at least six times in the sense of “make righteous” in a legal sense, i.e., “pronounce innocent, acquit” (see Exod 23:7; Deut 25:1; 1 Kgs 8:32 = 2 Chr 6:23; Prov 17:15; Isa 5:23). It can also mean “render justice” (as a royal function, see 2 Sam 15:4; Ps 82:3), “concede” (Job 27:5), “vindicate” (Isa 50:8), and “lead to righteousness” (by teaching and example, Dan 12:3). The preceding context and the next line suggest a legal sense here. Because of his willingness to carry the people’s sins, the servant is able to “acquit” them.

[53:11]  ²³ tn The circumstantial clause (note the vav [ו] + object + subject + verb pattern) is understood as causal here. The prefixed verb form is either a preterite or an imperfect used in a customary manner.

[4:31]  ²⁴ tn The particle כִּי (ki) is more likely asseverative here than causal.

[4:31]  ²⁵ sn Jerusalem is personified as a helpless maiden.

[4:31]  ²⁶ tn Heb “spreading out her hands.” The idea of asking or pleading for help is implicit in the figure.

[4:31]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Woe, now to me!” See the translator’s note on 4:13 for the usage of “Woe to…”

[6:24]  ²⁸ tn These words are not in the text, but, from the context, someone other than God is speaking and is speaking for and to the people (either Jeremiah or the people themselves). These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:24]  ²⁹ tn Or “We have lost our strength to do battle”; Heb “Our hands hang limp [or helpless at our sides].” According to BDB 951 s.v. רָפָה Qal.2, this idiom is used figuratively for losing heart or energy. The best example of its figurative use of loss of strength or the feeling of helplessness is in Ezek 21:12 where it appears in the context of the heart (courage) melting, the spirit sinking, and the knees becoming like water. For other examples compare 2 Sam 4:1; Zeph 3:16. In Neh 6:9 it is used literally of the builders “dropping their hands from the work” out of fear. The words “with fear” are supplied in the translation because they are implicit in the context.

[13:21]  ³⁰ tn Or perhaps more rhetorically equivalent, “Will you not be surprised?”

[13:21]  ³¹ tn The words “The Lord” are not in the text. Some commentators make the enemy the subject, but they are spoken of as “them.”

[13:21]  ³² tn Or “to be rulers.” The translation of these two lines is somewhat uncertain. The sentence structure of these two lines raises problems in translation. The Hebrew text reads: “What will you do when he appoints over you [or punishes you (see BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.B.2 for the former, Qal.A.3 for the latter)] and you, yourself, taught them over you friends [or chiefs (see BDB 48 s.v. I אַלּוּף 2 and Ps 55:13 for the former and BDB 49 s.v. II אַלּוּף and Exod 15:15 for the latter)] for a head.” The translation assumes that the clause “and you, yourself, taught them [= made them accustomed, i.e., “prepared”] [to be] over you” is parenthetical coming between the verb “appoint” and its object and object modifier (i.e., “appointed over you allies for rulers”). A quick check of other English versions will show how varied the translation of these lines has been. Most English versions seem to ignore the second “over you” after “you taught them.” Some rearrange the text to get what they think is a sensible meaning. For a fairly thorough treatment see W. McKane, Jeremiah (ICC), 1:308-10.

[13:21]  ³³ tn Heb “Will not pain [here = mental anguish] take hold of you like a woman giving birth.” The question is rhetorical expecting a positive answer.

[22:23]  ³⁴ tn Heb “You who dwell in Lebanon, you who are nested in its cedars, how you….” The metaphor has been interpreted for the sake of clarity. The figure here has often been interpreted of the people of Jerusalem living in paneled houses or living in a city dominated by the temple and palace which were built from the cedars of Lebanon. Some even interpret this as a reference to the king who has been characterized as living in a cedar palace, in a veritable Lebanon (cf. vv. 6-7, 14 and see also the alternate interpretation of 21:13-14). However, the reference to “nesting in the cedars” and the earlier reference to “feeling secure” suggests that the figure is rather like that of Ezek 31:6 and Dan 4:12. See also Hab 2:9 where a related figure is used. The forms for “you who dwell” and “you who are nested” in the literal translation are feminine singular participles referring again to personified Jerusalem. (The written forms of these participles are to be explained as participles with a hireq campaginis according to GKC 253 §90.m. The use of the participle before the preposition is to be explained according to GKC 421 §130.a.)

[22:23]  ³⁵ tn The verb here should be identified as a Niphal perfect of the verb אָנַח (’anakh) with the א (aleph) left out (so BDB 336 s.v. חָנַן Niph and GKC 80 §23.f, n. 1). The form is already translated that way by the Greek, Latin, and Syriac versions.

[22:23]  ³⁶ sn This simile has already been used in Jer 4:31; 6:24 in conjunction with Zion/Jerusalem’s judgment.

[4:9]  ³⁷ tn The Hebrew form is feminine singular, indicating that Jerusalem, personified as a young woman, is now addressed (see v. 10). In v. 8 the tower/fortress was addressed with masculine forms, so there is clearly a shift in addressee here. “Jerusalem” has been supplied in the translation at the beginning of v. 9 to make this shift apparent.

[4:9]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Now why are you shouting [with] a shout.”

[4:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Is there no king over you?”

[4:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Traditionally, “counselor” (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This refers to the king mentioned in the previous line; the title points to the king’s roles as chief strategist and policy maker, both of which required extraordinary wisdom.

[4:9]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “that.” The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is used here in a resultative sense; for this use see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.

[4:9]  ⁴² tn Heb “grabs hold of, seizes.”

[4:10]  ⁴³ tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”

[4:10]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:10]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.

[16:21]  ⁴⁶ sn The same word translated distress here has been translated sadness in the previous verse (a wordplay that is not exactly reproducible in English).

[16:21]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “her hour.”

[16:21]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “that a man” (but in a generic sense, referring to a human being).

[16:21]  ⁴⁹ sn Jesus now compares the situation of the disciples to a woman in childbirth. Just as the woman in the delivery of her child experiences real pain and anguish (has distress), so the disciples will also undergo real anguish at the crucifixion of Jesus. But once the child has been born, the mother’s anguish is turned into joy, and she forgets the past suffering. The same will be true of the disciples, who after Jesus’ resurrection and reappearance to them will forget the anguish they suffered at his death on account of their joy.

[16:1]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “so that you will not be caused to stumble.”

[5:1]  ⁵¹ sn The temporal indicator After this is not specific, so it is uncertain how long after the incidents at Cana this occurred.

[5:1]  ⁵² tc The textual variants ἑορτή or ἡ ἑορτή (Jeorth or Jh Jeorth, “a feast” or “the feast”) may not appear significant at first, but to read ἑορτή with the article would almost certainly demand a reference to the Jewish Passover. The article is found in א C L Δ Ψ Ë¹ 33 892 1424 pm, but is lacking in {Ì^66,75 A B D T W^s Θ Ë¹³ 565 579 700 1241 pm}. Overall, the shorter reading has somewhat better support. Internally, the known proclivity of scribes to make the text more explicit argues compellingly for the shorter reading. Thus, the verse refers to a feast other than the Passover. The incidental note in 5:3, that the sick were lying outside in the porticoes of the pool, makes Passover an unlikely time because it fell toward the end of winter and the weather would not have been warm. L. Morris (John [NICNT], 299, n. 6) thinks it impossible to identify the feast with certainty.

[5:1]  ⁵³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:15]  ⁵⁴ tc Several witnesses, two of which are quite ancient (Ì^66,75 L N ˹ 33 565 892 1241 al lat), have ὡς (Jws, “like”) before φραγέλλιον (fragellion, “whip”). A decision based on external evidence would be difficult to make because the shorter reading also has excellent witnesses, as well as the majority, on its side (א A B Θ Ψ Ë¹³ Ï co). Internal evidence, though, leans toward the shorter reading. Scribes tended to add to the text, and the addition of ὡς here clearly softens the assertion of the evangelist: Instead of making a whip of cords, Jesus made “[something] like a whip of cords.”

[2:15]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “the temple.”

[2:15]  ⁵⁶ sn Because of the imperial Roman portraits they carried, Roman denarii and Attic drachmas were not permitted to be used in paying the half-shekel temple-tax (the Jews considered the portraits idolatrous). The money changers exchanged these coins for legal Tyrian coinage at a small profit.