All the Babylonians will be seized with panic and pain. Anguish will grip them like a woman in labor. They will look at one another with astonishment, and their faces will be flames of fire!
For while some are saying, “Finally we have peace and security,” sudden destruction will arrive at their doorstep, like labor pains seizing a pregnant woman—and with no chance of escape!
Look, an enemy will swoop down on Bozrah and attack Edom without warning, like an eagle diving from the sky. The enemy will capture the cities and the fortresses. And on that day Edom’s warriors will be as frightened as a woman in her birth pains.”
So I weep along with Jazer over the vines of Sibmah. I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh, for the shouts of joy over the harvest of fruit and grain have ceased.
My heart cries out for the people of Moab, for her fugitives who flee to Zoar and to Eglath-shelishiyah. Weeping, they climb the upward road to Luhith. Their loud cries of anguish are heard all along the way to Horonaim.
Just like a woman giving birth experiences intense labor pains in delivering her baby, yet after the child is born she quickly forgets what she went through because of the overwhelming joy of knowing that a new baby has been born into the world.
With gut-wrenching pain deep in my soul, I writhe on the ground in anguish. My heart is pounding within me. I cannot keep silent, for I hear the shofar blast. I say to my soul, I hear the cry of war!