“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 

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!”

Many are appalled when they see me, ¹  but you are my secure shelter.

Cover ¹  their faces with shame, so they might seek ²  you, ³  O Lord.

After I vent my wrath on it Babylon will be uninhabited. ¹  It will be totally desolate. All who pass by will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ² 

But the eyes of the wicked fail, ¹  and escape ²  eludes them; their one hope ³  is to breathe their last.” ⁴ 

chase them with your gale winds, and terrify ¹  them with your windstorm.

“Edom will become an object of horror. All who pass by it will be filled with horror; they will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ¹ 

The mother who had seven children ¹  will grow faint. All the breath will go out of her. ²  Her pride and joy will be taken from her in the prime of their life. It will seem as if the sun had set while it was still day. ³  She will suffer shame and humiliation. ⁴  I will cause any of them who are still left alive to be killed in war by the onslaughts of their enemies,” ⁵  says the Lord.

People ¹  have opened their mouths against me, they have struck my cheek in scorn; ²  they unite ³  together against me.

From the most remote place on earth ¹  I call out to you in my despair. ²  Lead me ³  up to an inaccessible rocky summit! ⁴ 

I will make this city an object of horror, a thing to be hissed at. All who pass by it will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn ¹  because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ²