But ¹  I would strengthen ²  you with my words; ³  comfort from my lips would bring ⁴  you relief.

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now.

When the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, ¹  and from the hard labor which you were made to perform,

But if anyone has caused sadness, he has not saddened me alone, but to some extent (not to exaggerate) ¹  he has saddened all of you as well.

A foolish child is a grief ¹  to his father, and bitterness to the mother who bore him. ² 

People ¹  writhe in fear when they see them. ²  All of their faces turn pale with fright. ³ 

I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ¹ 

We were pregnant, we strained, we gave birth, as it were, to wind. ¹  We cannot produce deliverance on the earth; people to populate the world are not born. ² 

The earth will tremble and writhe in agony. ¹  For the Lord will carry out his plan. He plans to make the land of Babylonia ²  a wasteland where no one lives. ³ 

He will make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness.

Don’t consider your servant a wicked woman, ¹  for until now I have spoken from my deep pain and anguish.”

Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts! ¹  But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; ²  you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. ³ 

Destruction, devastation, and desolation! ¹  Their hearts faint, ²  their knees tremble, ³  each stomach churns, ⁴  each face ⁵  turns ⁶  pale! ⁷ 

Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, yet no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain ¹  was very great. ² 

Jerusalem, why are you ¹  now shouting so loudly? ²  Has your king disappeared? ³  Has your wise leader ⁴  been destroyed? Is this why ⁵  pain grips ⁶  you as if you were a woman in labor?

The Lord supports ¹  him on his sickbed; you completely heal him from his illness. ² 

What my eyes see ¹  grieves me ²  – all the suffering of the daughters in my city. ³ 

My children – I am again undergoing birth pains until Christ is formed in you! ¹ 

Jabez called out to the God of Israel, “If only ¹  you would greatly bless me and expand my territory! May your hand be with me! Keep me from harm so I might not endure pain!” ²  God answered his prayer. ³ 

I said, ¹  “Oh, the feeling in the pit of my stomach! ²  I writhe in anguish. Oh, the pain in my heart! ³  My heart pounds within me. I cannot keep silent. For I hear the sound of the trumpet; ⁴  the sound of the battle cry pierces my soul! ⁵