Therefore my body is filled with pain. Pangs have taken hold of me like the pangs of a woman in labor. I am bewildered by what I hear, terrified by what I see.
As often as it passes through, it will seize you—morning by morning, by day and by night passing through. It will be sheer terror to understand the message.’”
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.”
I heard, and my belly trembled. My lips quivered at the sound. Decay comes into my bones. I tremble where I stand, since I must wait quietly for a day of distress to come up against the people who will invade us.
When they are saying, “Shalom and safety,” sudden destruction comes upon them like a woman having birth pains in the womb—there is no way they will escape.