John 16:21

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.

Cross References

Genesis 3:16

To the woman he said, “I will make your pangs in childbirth exceedingly great; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

Job 11:16

You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away.

Psalm 113:9

He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!

Isaiah 13:8

and they will be terrified. Pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.

Isaiah 21:3

Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

Isaiah 66:7

Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son.

Micah 4:10

Writhe and groan, O daughter Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you shall go forth from the city and camp in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued; there the Lord will redeem you from the hands of your enemies.

Micah 4:9

Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pangs have seized you like a woman in labor?

Galatians 4:27

For it is written, “Rejoice, you childless one, you who bear no children, burst into song and shout, you who endure no birth pangs, for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous than the children of the one who is married.”

1 Thessalonians 5:3

When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!