I heard a cry, like a woman in labor, a scream like a woman bearing her first child. It was the cry of Jerusalem gasping for breath, stretching out her hand and saying, "I am doomed! They are coming to kill me!"

"We have heard the news," say the people of Jerusalem, "and our hands hang limp; we are seized by anguish and pain like a woman in labor.

What will you say when people you thought were your friends conquer you and rule over you? You will be in pain like a woman giving birth.

You rest secure among the cedars brought from Lebanon; but how pitiful you'll be when pains strike you, pains like those of a woman in labor.

The people of Damascus are weak and have fled in terror. They are in pain and misery like a woman in labor.

The king of Babylonia hears the news, and his hands hang limp. He is seized by anguish, by pain like a woman in labor.

There they were seized with fear and anguish, like a woman about to bear a child,

Howl in pain! The day of the LORD is near, the day when the Almighty brings destruction.

They will all be terrified and overcome with pain, like the pain of a woman in labor. They will look at each other in fear, and their faces will burn with shame.

What I saw and heard in the vision has filled me with terror and pain, pain like that of a woman in labor.

He turned pale and was so frightened that his knees began to shake.

Israel has a chance to live, but is too foolish to take it---like a child about to be born, who refuses to come out of the womb.

Why do you cry out so loudly? Why are you suffering like a woman in labor? Is it because you have no king, and your counselors are dead?

Twist and groan, people of Jerusalem, like a woman giving birth, for now you will have to leave the city and live in the open country. You will have to go to Babylon, but there the LORD will save you from your enemies.

When a woman is about to give birth, she is sad because her hour of suffering has come; but when the baby is born, she forgets her suffering, because she is happy that a baby has been born into the world.

That is how it is with you: now you are sad, but I will see you again, and your hearts will be filled with gladness, the kind of gladness that no one can take away from you.

When people say, "Everything is quiet and safe," then suddenly destruction will hit them! It will come as suddenly as the pains that come upon a woman in labor, and people will not escape.

So now the LORD, the God of Israel, who rescued Abraham from trouble, says, "My people, you will not be disgraced any longer, and your faces will no longer be pale with shame.

As they approach, everyone is terrified; every face turns pale.

Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, desolate! Hearts melt with fear; knees tremble, strength is gone; faces grow pale.