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. ¹ 

Isaiah 21:3

21:3 For this reason my stomach churns; ² 

cramps overwhelm me

like the contractions of a woman in labor.

I am disturbed ³  by what I hear,

horrified by what I see.

Psalms 48:6

48:6 Look at them shake uncontrollably, ⁴ 

like a woman writhing in childbirth. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 4:31

4:31 In fact, ⁶  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 ⁷  gasping for breath,

reaching out for help, ⁸  saying, “I am done in! ⁹ 

My life is ebbing away before these murderers!”

Jeremiah 6:24

6:24 The people cry out, ¹⁰  “We have heard reports about them!

We have become helpless with fear! ¹¹ 

Anguish grips us,

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

Jeremiah 30:6

30:6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: ¹² 

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 ¹³  a woman giving birth?

And why do their faces

turn so deathly pale?

John 16:21

16:21 When a woman gives birth, she has distress ¹⁴  because her time ¹⁵  has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being ¹⁶  has been born into the world. ¹⁷ 

John 16:1

16:1 “I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. ¹⁸ 

John 5:3

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

[13:8]  ¹ tn Heb “their faces are faces of flames.” Their faces are flushed with fear and embarrassment.

[21:3]  ² tn Heb “my waist is filled with shaking [or “anguish”].”

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

[48:6]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “[with] writhing like one giving birth.”

[4:31]  ⁶ tn The particle כִּי (ki) is more likely asseverative here than causal.

[4:31]  ⁷ sn Jerusalem is personified as a helpless maiden.

[4:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “spreading out her hands.” The idea of asking or pleading for help is implicit in the figure.

[4:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “Woe, now to me!” See the translator’s note on 4:13 for the usage of “Woe to…”

[6:24]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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.

[30:6]  ¹² tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”

[30:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.

[16:21]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “her hour.”

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

[16:21]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “so that you will not be caused to stumble.”