Isaiah 21:3

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.

Jeremiah 30:6-7

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 

Hosea 13:13

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!

[21:3]  ¹ tn Heb “my waist is filled with shaking [or “anguish”].”

[21:3]  ² tn Or perhaps, “bent over [in pain]”; cf. NRSV “I am bowed down.”

[30:6]  ³ tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”

[30:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.

[30:7]  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.

[30:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “It is a time of trouble for Jacob but he will be saved out of it.”