They will be horrified; pain and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labour. They will look at each other, their faces flushed with fear.
When a woman is in labour, she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world.
Ask and see whether a male can give birth. Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labour and every face turned pale?
I hear a cry like a woman in labour, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child. The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands: ‘Woe is me, for my life is weary because of the murderers! ’
Their inhabitants have become powerless, dismayed, and ashamed. They are plants of the field, tender grass, grass on the rooftops, blasted by the east wind.
What will you say when he appoints close friends as leaders over you, ones you yourself trained? Won’t labour pains seize you, as they do a woman in labour?
Why have I seen this? They are terrified, they are retreating, their warriors are crushed, they flee headlong, they never look back, terror is on every side! This is the Lord’s declaration.
The towns have been captured, and the strongholds seized. In that day the heart of Moab’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.
Look! It will be like an eagle soaring upwards, then swooping down and spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.
Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their might is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze, her gate bars are shattered.
and say to the forest there, “Hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord God says: I am about to ignite a fire in you, and it will devour every green tree and every dry tree in you. The blazing flame will not be extinguished, and every face from the south to the north will be scorched by it.