Then the king asked her, “What’s your problem?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Hand over your son; we’ll eat him today and then eat my son tomorrow.’

So the woman did as the prophet said. ¹  She and her family went and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

He went inside and had a meal. ¹  Then he said, “Dispose of this accursed woman’s corpse. Bury her, for after all, she was a king’s daughter.” ² 

What I have continually sought, I have not found; I have found only ¹  one upright ²  man among a thousand, but I have not found one upright woman among all of them.

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 

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.

As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver and strains and cries out because of her labor pains, so were we because of you, O Lord.

“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 

Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings, a nation will soar up and swoop down on Bozrah. At that time the soldiers of Edom will be as fearful as a woman in labor.” ¹ 

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?

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with ¹  three measures ²  of flour until all the dough had risen.” ³ 

A ¹  Canaanite woman from that area came ²  and cried out, ³  “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is horribly demon-possessed!”

Then ¹  when a woman of that town, who was a sinner, learned that Jesus ²  was dining ³  at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar ⁴  of perfumed oil. ⁵ 

When ¹  the woman saw that she could not escape notice, ²  she came trembling and fell down before him. In ³  the presence of all the people, she explained why ⁴  she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed.

“Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins ¹  and loses ²  one of them, ³  does not light a lamp, sweep ⁴  the house, and search thoroughly until she finds it?

They said to the woman, “No longer do we believe because of your words, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this one ¹  really is the Savior of the world.” ² 

Now when they heard this, they began to drift away one at a time, starting with the older ones, ¹  until Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

When a woman gives birth, she has distress ¹  because her time ²  has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being ³  has been born into the world. ⁴ 

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.