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 30:6

30:6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: ⁷ 

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 ⁸  a woman giving birth?

And why do their faces

turn so deathly pale?

Jeremiah 49:22

49:22 Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings,

a nation will soar up and swoop down on Bozrah.

At that time the soldiers of Edom will be as fearful

as a woman in labor.” ⁹ 

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 ¹⁰ 

when he hears news of their coming. ¹¹ 

Anguish will grip him,

agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. ¹² 

Jeremiah 51:30

51:30 The soldiers of Babylonia will stop fighting.

They will remain in their fortified cities.

They will lose their strength to do battle. ¹³ 

They will be as frightened as women. ¹⁴ 

The houses in her cities will be set on fire.

The gates of her cities will be broken down. ¹⁵ 

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. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 21:3

21:3 For this reason my stomach churns; ¹⁷ 

cramps overwhelm me

like the contractions of a woman in labor.

I am disturbed ¹⁸  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. ¹⁹ 

We cannot produce deliverance on the earth;

people to populate the world are not born. ²⁰ 

Micah 4:9-10

4:9 Jerusalem, why are you ²¹  now shouting so loudly? ²² 

Has your king disappeared? ²³ 

Has your wise leader ²⁴  been destroyed?

Is this why ²⁵  pain grips ²⁶  you as if you were a woman in labor?

4:10 Twist and strain, ²⁷  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 ²⁸  you

from the power ²⁹  of your enemies.

Micah 4:1

Better Days Ahead for Jerusalem

4:1 In the future ³⁰  the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; ³¹ 

it will be more prominent than other hills. ³² 

People will stream to it.

Micah 5:3

5:3 So the Lord ³³  will hand the people of Israel ³⁴  over to their enemies ³⁵ 

until the time when the woman in labor ³⁶  gives birth. ³⁷ 

Then the rest of the king’s ³⁸  countrymen will return

to be reunited with the people of Israel. ³⁹ 

[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.

[30:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”

[30:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.

[49:22]  ⁹ sn Compare Jer 48:40-41 for a similar prophecy about Moab. The parallelism here suggests that Bozrah, like Teman in v. 20, is a poetic equivalent for Edom.

[50:43]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “his hands will drop/hang limp.” For the meaning of this idiom see the translator’s note on 6:24.

[50:43]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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).

[51:30]  ¹³ tn Heb “Their strength is dry.” This is a figurative nuance of the word “dry” which BDB 677 s.v. נָשַׁת Qal.1 explain as meaning “fails.” The idea of “strength to do battle” is implicit from the context and is supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[51:30]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “They have become women.” The metaphor has been turned into a simile and the significance of the comparison drawn out for the sake of clarity. See 50:37 for the same figure.

[51:30]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Her dwelling places have been set on fire. Her bars [i.e., the bars on the gates of her cities] have been broken.” The present translation has substituted the word “gates” for “bars” because the intent of the figure is to show that the bars of the gates have been broken giving access to the city. “Gates” makes it easier for the modern reader to understand the figure.

[13:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “their faces are faces of flames.” Their faces are flushed with fear and embarrassment.

[21:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “my waist is filled with shaking [or “anguish”].”

[21:3]  ¹⁸ tn Or perhaps, “bent over [in pain]”; cf. NRSV “I am bowed down.”

[26:18]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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.

[4:9]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Heb “Now why are you shouting [with] a shout.”

[4:9]  ²³ tn Heb “Is there no king over you?”

[4:9]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “grabs hold of, seizes.”

[4:10]  ²⁷ tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”

[4:10]  ²⁸ tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:10]  ²⁹ tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.

[4:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “at the end of days.”

[4:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “will be established as the head of the mountains.”

[4:1]  ³² tn Heb “it will be lifted up above the hills.”

[5:3]  ³³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people of Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:3]  ³⁵ tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ³⁶ sn The woman in labor. Personified, suffering Jerusalem is the referent. See 4:9-10.

[5:3]  ³⁷ sn Gives birth. The point of the figurative language is that Jerusalem finally finds relief from her suffering. See 4:10.

[5:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:3]  ³⁹ tn Heb “to the sons of Israel.” The words “be reunited with” are supplied in the translation for clarity.