'Birth Pangs' in the Bible

Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel, ‘You know all the hardship that has come upon us [as a nation];

But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs [of the intolerable anguish and the time of unprecedented trouble].

For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These things are the beginning of the birth pangs [the intolerable anguish and suffering].

My little children, for whom I am again in [the pains of] labor until Christ is [completely and permanently] formed within you—

For it is written [in the Scriptures],“Rejoice, o barren woman who has not given birth;Break forth into a [joyful] shout, you who are not in labor;For the desolate woman has many more childrenThan she who has a husband.”

She was with child (the Messiah) and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.