“Thus says Hezekiah: A day of distress and rebuke, a day of disgrace is this day! Children are due to come forth, but the strength to give birth is lacking.
“Thus says Hezekiah: A day of distress and rebuke, a day of disgrace is this day! Children are due to come forth, but the strength to give birth is lacking.
Shall I bring a mother to the point of birth, and yet not let her child be born? says the Lord. Or shall I who bring to birth yet close her womb? says your God.
Inquire and see: does a male give birth? Why, then, do I see all these men, their hands on their loins Like women in labor, all their faces drained of color?
Yes, I hear the cry, like that of a woman in labor, like the anguish of a mother bearing her first child— The cry of daughter Zion gasping, as she stretches out her hands: “Ah, woe is me! I sink exhausted before my killers!”
When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.
But as he spoke about righteousness and self-restraint and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “You may go for now; when I find an opportunity I shall summon you again.”
For he says: “In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.