Jeremiah 4:31

4:31 In fact, ¹  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 ²  gasping for breath,

reaching out for help, ³  saying, “I am done in! ⁴ 

My life is ebbing away before these murderers!”

Jeremiah 6:24

6:24 The people cry out, ⁵  “We have heard reports about them!

We have become helpless with fear! ⁶ 

Anguish grips us,

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

Jeremiah 13:21

13:21 What will you say ⁷  when the Lord ⁸  appoints as rulers over you those allies

that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such? ⁹ 

Then anguish and agony will grip you

like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 22:23

22:23 You may feel as secure as a bird

nesting in the cedars of Lebanon.

But oh how you ¹¹  will groan ¹²  when the pains of judgment come on you.

They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby. ¹³ 

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.

Jeremiah 50:43

50:43 The king of Babylon will become paralyzed with fear ¹⁴ 

when he hears news of their coming. ¹⁵ 

Anguish will grip him,

agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 48:6

48:6 Look at them shake uncontrollably, ¹⁷ 

like a woman writhing in childbirth. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 13:6-9

13:6 Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment ¹⁹  is near;

it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge. ²⁰ 

13:7 For this reason all hands hang limp, ²¹ 

every human heart loses its courage. ²² 

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. ²³ 

13:9 Look, the Lord’s day of judgment ²⁴  is coming;

it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger, ²⁵ 

destroying ²⁶  the earth ²⁷ 

and annihilating its sinners.

Isaiah 21:3

21:3 For this reason my stomach churns; ²⁸ 

cramps overwhelm me

like the contractions of a woman in labor.

I am disturbed ²⁹  by what I hear,

horrified by what I see.

Daniel 5:6

5:6 Then all the color drained from the king’s face ³⁰  and he became alarmed. ³¹  The joints of his hips gave way, ³²  and his knees began knocking together.

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!

Micah 4:9-10

4:9 Jerusalem, why are you ³³  now shouting so loudly? ³⁴ 

Has your king disappeared? ³⁵ 

Has your wise leader ³⁶  been destroyed?

Is this why ³⁷  pain grips ³⁸  you as if you were a woman in labor?

4:10 Twist and strain, ³⁹  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 ⁴⁰  you

from the power ⁴¹  of your enemies.

John 16:21-22

16:21 When a woman gives birth, she has distress ⁴²  because her time ⁴³  has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being ⁴⁴  has been born into the world. ⁴⁵  16:22 So also you have sorrow ⁴⁶  now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. ⁴⁷ 

John 16:1

16:1 “I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. ⁴⁸ 

John 5:3

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

[4:31]  ¹ tn The particle כִּי (ki) is more likely asseverative here than causal.

[4:31]  ² sn Jerusalem is personified as a helpless maiden.

[4:31]  ³ tn Heb “spreading out her hands.” The idea of asking or pleading for help is implicit in the figure.

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

[6:24]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps more rhetorically equivalent, “Will you not be surprised?”

[13:21]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ sn This simile has already been used in Jer 4:31; 6:24 in conjunction with Zion/Jerusalem’s judgment.

[50:43]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “his hands will drop/hang limp.” For the meaning of this idiom see the translator’s note on 6:24.

[50:43]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “The king of Babylon hears report of them and his hands hang limp.” The verbs are translated as future because the passage is prophetic and the verbs may be interpreted as prophetic perfects (the action viewed as if it were as good as done). In the parallel passage in 6:24 the verbs could be understood as present perfects because the passage could be viewed as in the present. Here it is future.

[50:43]  ¹⁶ sn Compare Jer 6:22-24 where almost the same exact words as 50:41-43 are applied to the people of Judah. The repetition of prophecies here and in the following verses emphasizes the talionic nature of God’s punishment of Babylon; as they have done to others, so it will be done to them (cf. 25:14; 50:15).

[48:6]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[with] writhing like one giving birth.”

[13:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the day of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB).

[13:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “like destruction from the sovereign judge it comes.” The comparative preposition (כְּ, kÿ) has here the rhetorical nuance, “in every way like.” The point is that the destruction unleashed will have all the earmarks of divine judgment. One could paraphrase, “it comes as only destructive divine judgment can.” On this use of the preposition in general, see GKC 376 §118.x.

[13:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “drop”; KJV “be faint”; ASV “be feeble”; NAB “fall helpless.”

[13:7]  ²² tn Heb “melts” (so NAB).

[13:8]  ²³ tn Heb “their faces are faces of flames.” Their faces are flushed with fear and embarrassment.

[13:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the day of the Lord.”

[13:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “[with] cruelty, and fury, and rage of anger.” Three synonyms for “anger” are piled up at the end of the line to emphasize the extraordinary degree of divine anger that will be exhibited in this judgment.

[13:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “making desolate.”

[13:9]  ²⁷ tn Or “land” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT).

[21:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “my waist is filled with shaking [or “anguish”].”

[21:3]  ²⁹ tn Or perhaps, “bent over [in pain]”; cf. NRSV “I am bowed down.”

[5:6]  ³⁰ tn Aram “[the king’s] brightness changed for him.”

[5:6]  ³¹ tn Aram “his thoughts were alarming him.”

[5:6]  ³² tn Aram “his loins went slack.”

[4:9]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Now why are you shouting [with] a shout.”

[4:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Is there no king over you?”

[4:9]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ tn Heb “grabs hold of, seizes.”

[4:10]  ³⁹ tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”

[4:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:10]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.

[16:21]  ⁴² 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]  ⁴³ tn Grk “her hour.”

[16:21]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “that a man” (but in a generic sense, referring to a human being).

[16:21]  ⁴⁵ 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.

[16:22]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “distress.”

[16:22]  ⁴⁷ sn An allusion to Isa 66:14 LXX, which reads: “Then you will see, and your heart will be glad, and your bones will flourish like the new grass; and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but he will be indignant toward his enemies.” The change from “you will see [me]” to I will see you places more emphasis on Jesus as the one who reinitiates the relationship with the disciples after his resurrection, but v. 16 (you will see me) is more like Isa 66:14. Further support for seeing this allusion as intentional is found in Isa 66:7, which uses the same imagery of the woman giving birth found in John 16:21. In the context of Isa 66 the passages refer to the institution of the messianic kingdom, and in fact the last clause of 66:14 along with the following verses (15-17) have yet to be fulfilled. This is part of the tension of present and future eschatological fulfillment that runs throughout the NT, by virtue of the fact that there are two advents. Some prophecies are fulfilled or partially fulfilled at the first advent, while other prophecies or parts of prophecies await fulfillment at the second.

[16:1]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “so that you will not be caused to stumble.”