^17 (A)As the ^[a]woman with child draws near to the time to give birth,
She writhes and cries out in her pangs of labor,
Thus were we before You, O Yahweh.
¹⁸ We were ^[b]with child, we writhed in labor;
We ^(B)gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.
We could not accomplish salvation for the earth,
And the ^(C)inhabitants of the world ^[c]were not born.

⁹ Shall I bring to the point of breaking forth and ^(A)not cause birth?” says Yahweh.
“Or shall I who causes birth shut the womb?” says your God.

¹³ The pains of ^(A)childbirth come upon him;
He is ^(B)not a wise son,
For ^[a]it is not the time that he should ^(C)delay at the opening of the womb.