One nation oppressed another nation, and one city oppressed another city, because God was bringing trouble and distress on them.

The LORD says, "I will stir up civil war in Egypt and turn brother against brother and neighbor against neighbor. Rival cities will fight each other, and rival kings will struggle for power.

The LORD Almighty says that disaster is coming on one nation after another, and a great storm is gathering at the far ends of the earth.

and overthrow kingdoms and end their power. I will overturn chariots and their drivers; the horses will die, and their riders will kill one another.

At that time the LORD will make them so confused and afraid that everyone will seize the man next to him and attack him.

Another horse came out, a red one. Its rider was given the power to bring war on the earth, so that people should kill each other. He was given a large sword.

One of them, named Agabus, stood up and by the power of the Spirit predicted that a severe famine was about to come over all the earth. (It came when Claudius was emperor.)

All these things are like the first pains of childbirth.

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

This is the message which he told them to give to Isaiah: "Today is a day of suffering; we are being punished and are in disgrace. We are like a woman who is ready to give birth, but is too weak to do it.

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.

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 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.