'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];

when they crouch down to give birth to their offspring, and let go of their birth pangs?

Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are surprised, and the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in birth pangs.

Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in birth pangs.

The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands grew feeble: anguish took hold of him, and birth pangs as of a woman in travail.