All ¹  these things are the beginning of birth pains.

Night pierces ¹  my bones; ²  my gnawing pains ³  never cease.

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

Now when ¹  they are saying, “There is peace and security,” ²  then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains ³  on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape.

They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their sufferings ¹  and because of their sores, ²  but nevertheless ³  they still refused to repent ⁴  of their deeds.

Before she goes into labor, she gives birth! Before her contractions begin, she delivers a boy!

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

They crouch, they bear ¹  their young, they bring forth the offspring they have carried. ² 

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

His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phineas, was pregnant and close to giving birth. When she heard that the ark of God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she doubled over and gave birth. But her labor pains were too much for her.

I dread ¹  all my sufferings, ²  for ³  I know that you do not hold me blameless. ⁴ 

But God raised him up, ¹  having released ²  him from the pains ³  of death, because it was not possible for him to be held in its power. ⁴ 

so that I ¹  would prefer ²  strangling, ³  and ⁴  death ⁵  more ⁶  than life. ⁷ 

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!

“How often ¹  is the lamp of the wicked extinguished? How often does their ²  misfortune come upon them? How often does God apportion pain ³  to them ⁴  in his anger?

The ropes of death tightened around me, ¹  the snares ²  of Sheol confronted me. I was confronted ³  with trouble and sorrow.

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.

So a report about him spread throughout Syria. People ¹  brought to him all who suffered with various illnesses and afflictions, those who had seizures, ²  paralytics, and those possessed by demons, ³  and he healed them.

For nation will rise up in arms ¹  against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines. ²  These are but the beginning of birth pains.

Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that everyone will see your progress. ¹