Damascus has grown slack. She has turned away to flee and panic. Anxiety has seized [her], and labor pains have grasped her, like a woman in labor.

What will you say when He appoints
close friends as leaders over you,
ones you yourself trained?
Won’t labor pains seize you,
as they do a woman in labor?

You residents of Lebanon,
nestled among the cedars,
how you will groan when labor pains come on you,
agony like a woman in labor.

But the shameful thing hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary.

‘Ask now, and see
Whether a man can give birth [to a child].
Why then do I see every man
With his hands on his loins, as a woman in labor?
Why have all faces turned pale?

Kerioth will be taken, and the strongholds will be conquered, and the hearts of the warriors of Moab will be on that day like [the] heart of a woman [who] is in labor.

Look, like an eagle he will go up and he will swoop down, and he will spread out his wings against Bozrah. And the heart of the warriors of Edom will be in that day like [the] heart of a woman [who] is in labor.

I hear a cry like a woman in labor,
a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child.
The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands:
Woe is me, for my life is weary
because of the murderers!

We have heard about it,
and we are discouraged.
Distress has seized us—
pain like a woman in labor.

The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,
and his hands fall helpless.
Distress has seized him—
pain, like a woman in labor.

Look, I'm bringing them from the northern region, and I'll gather them from the farthest parts of the earth. among them will be the blind and the lame, together with the pregnant woman and the woman in labor. A large group will return here.

I will hand over all the wealth of this city to their enemies. I will hand over to them all the fruits of the labor of the people of this city and all their prized possessions, as well as all the treasures of the kings of Judah. Their enemies will seize it all as plunder and carry it off to Babylon.

"'Sure to be judged is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.