'Pangs' in the Bible
To the woman He said,“I will greatly multiplyYour pain in childbirth;In pain you will give birth to children;Yet your desire and longing will be for your husband,And he will rule [with authority] over you and be responsible for you.”
Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath (Bethlehem), Rachel began to give birth and had difficulty and suffered severely.
“The peoples have heard [about You], they tremble;Anguish and fear has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia.
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];
that this [incident] will not cause grief or [bring] a troubled conscience to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having avenged himself. When the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember [with favor] your maidservant.”
For there are no pains in their death,Their body is fat and pampered.
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.
As a woman with child approaches the time to give birth,She is in pain and struggles and cries out in her labor,So we were before You, O Lord.
We have heard the report of it;Our hands become limp and helpless.Anguish has gripped us,Pain like that of a woman in childbirth.
“What will you say [O Jerusalem] when the Lord appoints [foreign nations to rule] over you—Those former friends and allies whom you have encouraged [to be your companions]—Will not pain seize youLike [that of] a woman in childbirth?
“O inhabitant of [Jerusalem, whose palaces are made from the cedars of] Lebanon,You who nest in the cedars,How you will groan and how miserable you will be when pains come on you,Pain like a woman in childbirth!
“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.
“The king of Babylon has heard the report about them,And his hands fall limp and helpless;Anguish has seized him,And agony like that of a woman in childbirth.