To the woman He said, “I will greatly increase your pain from conception to labor. In pain will you give birth to children. Your desire will be toward your husband, yet he must rule over you.”
They will be terrified; pain and anguish will take hold of them; they will writhe as a woman in labor; they will look aghast at one another— their faces aflame!
Ask now, and see whether a man can give birth. Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman giving birth? Why have all faces turned pale?
For I heard a cry like one in labor, the anguish of one giving birth to her first child— the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands saying, “Oy , now to me! For my soul faints before murderers.”
Behold, he will mount up and swoop down like an eagle, and spread out his wings against Bozrah. The hearts of Edom’s warriors in that day will be like a woman’s heart in her pangs.
They will take away their tents and their flocks. They will carry away their curtains, all their gear and their camels. They will cry out against them, ‘Terror on every side!’
I will shatter Elam before their enemies and before those seeking their soul. I will bring calamity on them— My burning anger!” It is a declaration of Adonai, “I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.
For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines. These things are only the beginning of birth pains.