Look at them shake uncontrollably, ¹  like a woman writhing in childbirth. ² 

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

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

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!

The king of Babylon will become paralyzed with fear ¹  when he hears news of their coming. ²  Anguish will grip him, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. ³ 

She ¹  was pregnant and was screaming in labor pains, struggling ²  to give birth.

The people cry out, ¹  “We have heard reports about them! We have become helpless with fear! ²  Anguish grips us, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby!

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.

They traveled on from Bethel, and when Ephrath was still some distance away, ¹  Rachel went into labor ²  – and her labor was hard.

You may feel as secure as a bird nesting in the cedars of Lebanon. But oh how you ¹  will groan ²  when the pains of judgment come on you. They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby. ³ 

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase ¹  your labor pains; ²  with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, ³  but he will dominate ⁴  you.”

¹  “When you assist ²  the Hebrew women in childbirth, observe at the delivery: ³  If it is a son, kill him, ⁴  but if it is a daughter, she may live.” ⁵ 

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. ¹ 

Twist and strain, ¹  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 ²  you from the power ³  of your enemies.

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.

“I have been inactive ¹  for a long time; I kept quiet and held back. Like a woman in labor I groan; I pant and gasp. ² 

What will you say ¹  when the Lord ²  appoints as rulers over you those allies that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such? ³  Then anguish and agony will grip you like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. ⁴ 

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?

They have sex with their father’s wife within you; ¹  they violate women during their menstrual period within you. ² 

When her labor was at its hardest, ¹  the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you are having another son.” ²