Psalms 48:6

48:6 Look at them shake uncontrollably, ¹ 

like a woman writhing in childbirth. ² 

Isaiah 13:6-8

13:6 Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment ³  is near;

it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge. ⁴ 

13:7 For this reason all hands hang limp, ⁵ 

every human heart loses its courage. ⁶ 

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. ⁷ 

Isaiah 21:2-4

21:2 I have received a distressing message: ⁸ 

“The deceiver deceives,

the destroyer destroys.

Attack, you Elamites!

Lay siege, you Medes!

I will put an end to all the groaning!” ⁹ 

21:3 For this reason my stomach churns; ¹⁰ 

cramps overwhelm me

like the contractions of a woman in labor.

I am disturbed ¹¹  by what I hear,

horrified by what I see.

21:4 My heart palpitates, ¹² 

I shake in fear; ¹³ 

the twilight I desired

has brought me terror.

Jeremiah 6:24

6:24 The people cry out, ¹⁴  “We have heard reports about them!

We have become helpless with fear! ¹⁵ 

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: ¹⁶ 

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 ¹⁷  a woman giving birth?

And why do their faces

turn so deathly pale?

Matthew 2:3

2:3 When King Herod ¹⁸  heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him.

[48:6]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “[with] writhing like one giving birth.”

[13:6]  ³ tn Heb “the day of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB).

[13:6]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “drop”; KJV “be faint”; ASV “be feeble”; NAB “fall helpless.”

[13:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “melts” (so NAB).

[13:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “their faces are faces of flames.” Their faces are flushed with fear and embarrassment.

[21:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “a severe revelation has been related to me.”

[21:2]  ⁹ sn This is often interpreted to mean “all the groaning” that Babylon has caused others.

[21:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my waist is filled with shaking [or “anguish”].”

[21:3]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “bent over [in pain]”; cf. NRSV “I am bowed down.”

[21:4]  ¹² tn Heb “wanders,” perhaps here, “is confused.”

[21:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “shuddering terrifies me.”

[6:24]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”

[30:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.

[2:3]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.