'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.

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].

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in birth pangs together until now.

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.”

For when they say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction approaches them, as the woman having birth pangs in her womb, and they will, no, not escape.

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