'Childbirth' in the Bible

He told the woman, "I'll greatly increase the pain of your labor during childbirth. It will be painful for you to bear children, "since your trust is turning toward your husband, and he will dominate you."

And they journeyed from Bethel. And there was yet a certain distance to come to Ephrath, when Rachel travailed in childbirth; and it went hard with her in her childbearing.

And the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew women who gave help at the time of childbirth (the name of the one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah),

"When you assist the Hebrew women in childbirth, observe at the delivery: If it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she may live."

Panic seized them there,Anguish, as of a woman in childbirth.

The Maidens about His Beloved: Who is this coming up from the desert, leaning on her beloved? The Beloved to Her Lover: Under the apple tree I aroused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who bore you was in labor of childbirth.

They [of Babylon] will be shocked and terrified,Pains and anguish will grip them;They will be in pain like a woman in childbirth.They will stare aghast and horrified at one another,Their faces aflame [from the effects of the unprecedented warfare].

Therefore [continues Isaiah] my loins are filled with anguish;Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in childbirth;I am so bent and bewildered that I cannot hear, I am so terrified that I cannot see.

I have long been quiet, I have kept myself in and done nothing: now I will make sounds of pain like a woman in childbirth, breathing hard and quickly.

We have heard the report of it;Our hands are limp.Anguish has seized us,Pain as of a woman in childbirth.

“What will you say when He appoints over you—And you yourself had taught them—Former companions to be head over you?Will not pangs take hold of youLike a woman in childbirth?

“You who dwell in Lebanon,Nested in the cedars,How you will groan when pangs come upon you,Pain like a woman in childbirth!

‘Ask now, and seeIf a male can give birth.Why do I see every manWith his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth?And why have all faces turned pale?

“Behold, I am bringing them from the north country,And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth,Among them [will be] the blind and the lame,The woman with child and she who labors in childbirth, together;A great company, they will return here [to Jerusalem].

“Kerioth [and the cities] has been takenAnd the strongholds seized;And the hearts of the warriors of Moab in that dayShall be like the heart of a woman in childbirth.

Behold, He will mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread His wings against [the city of] Bozrah; and in that day the heart of the mighty warriors of Edom will be like the heart of a woman in childbirth.

“Damascus has become helpless;She has turned away to flee,And panic has gripped her;Distress and pangs have taken hold of herLike a woman in childbirth.

“The king of Babylon has heard the report about them,And his hands hang limp;Distress has gripped him,Agony like a woman in childbirth.

In you men have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness [the nakedness of mother or stepmother]; in you they have violated women who are [set apart as ceremonially] unclean during their menstrual impurity [or after childbirth].

When the time of childbirth comes, he will be so foolish that he will refuse to be born."

“Now, why do you cry out loudly?Is there no king among you,Or has your counselor perished,That agony has gripped you like a woman in childbirth?

“Writhe and labor to give birth,Daughter of Zion,Like a woman in childbirth;For now you will go out of the city,Dwell in the field,And go to Babylon.There you will be rescued;There the Lord will redeem youFrom the hand of your enemies.

but all these miseries are but like the early pains of childbirth.

For nation will rise in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These miseries are but like the early pains of childbirth.

For we know that all the rest of creation has been groaning with the pains of childbirth up to the present time.

My children, I am again suffering labor pains for you until Christ is formed in you.

For it is written, "Rejoice, you childless woman, who cannot give birth to any children! Break into song and shout, you who feel no pains of childbirth! For the children of the deserted woman are more numerous than the children of the woman who has a husband."

But if they go on in faith and love and holy self-control, she will be kept safe at the time of childbirth.

And she was with child; and she gave a cry, in the pains of childbirth.