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Now let me ask you a question:
    Do men give birth to babies?
Then why do they stand there, ashen-faced,
    hands pressed against their sides
    like a woman in labor?

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Ask and see:
    Can a man bear children?
Then why do I see every strong man
    with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor,(A)
    every face turned deathly pale?(B)

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10 Soon the city is plundered, empty, and ruined.
    Hearts melt and knees shake.
The people stand aghast,
    their faces pale and trembling.

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10 She is pillaged, plundered, stripped!
    Hearts melt,(A) knees give way,
    bodies tremble, every face grows pale.(B)

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Fear grips all the people;
    every face grows pale with terror.

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At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;(A)
    every face turns pale.(B)

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31 I hear a cry, like that of a woman in labor,
    the groans of a woman giving birth to her first child.
It is beautiful Jerusalem[a]
    gasping for breath and crying out,
    “Help! I’m being murdered!”

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Footnotes

  1. 4:31 Hebrew the daughter of Zion.

31 I hear a cry as of a woman in labor,(A)
    a groan as of one bearing her first child—
the cry of Daughter Zion(B) gasping for breath,(C)
    stretching out her hands(D) and saying,
“Alas! I am fainting;
    my life is given over to murderers.”(E)

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My stomach aches and burns with pain.
    Sharp pangs of anguish are upon me,
    like those of a woman in labor.
I grow faint when I hear what God is planning;
    I am too afraid to look.

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At this my body is racked with pain,(A)
    pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor;(B)
I am staggered by what I hear,
    I am bewildered(C) by what I see.

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When people are saying, “Everything is peaceful and secure,” then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape.

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While people are saying, “Peace and safety,”(A) destruction will come on them suddenly,(B) as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.(C)

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13 Pain has come to the people
    like the pain of childbirth,
but they are like a child
    who resists being born.
The moment of birth has arrived,
    but they stay in the womb!

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13 Pains as of a woman in childbirth(A) come to him,
    but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time(B) arrives,
    he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb.(C)

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23 It may be nice to live in a beautiful palace
    paneled with wood from the cedars of Lebanon,
but soon you will groan with pangs of anguish—
    anguish like that of a woman in labor.

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23 You who live in ‘Lebanon,[a](A)
    who are nestled in cedar buildings,
how you will groan when pangs come upon you,
    pain(B) like that of a woman in labor!

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 22:23 That is, the palace in Jerusalem (see 1 Kings 7:2)

24 We have heard reports about the enemy,
    and we wring our hands in fright.
Pangs of anguish have gripped us,
    like those of a woman in labor.

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24 We have heard reports about them,
    and our hands hang limp.(A)
Anguish(B) has gripped us,
    pain like that of a woman in labor.(C)

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They were gripped with terror
    and writhed in pain like a woman in labor.

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Trembling seized(A) them there,
    pain like that of a woman in labor.(B)

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21 It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. 22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.

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21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain(A) because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief,(B) but I will see you again(C) and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.(D)

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But why are you now screaming in terror?
    Have you no king to lead you?
Have your wise people all died?
    Pain has gripped you like a woman in childbirth.
10 Writhe and groan like a woman in labor,
    you people of Jerusalem,[a]
for now you must leave this city
    to live in the open country.
You will soon be sent in exile
    to distant Babylon.
But the Lord will rescue you there;
    he will redeem you from the grip of your enemies.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:10 Hebrew O daughter of Zion.

Why do you now cry aloud—
    have you no king[a](A)?
Has your ruler[b] perished,
    that pain seizes you like that of a woman in labor?(B)
10 Writhe in agony, Daughter Zion,
    like a woman in labor,
for now you must leave the city
    to camp in the open field.
You will go to Babylon;(C)
    there you will be rescued.
There the Lord will redeem(D) you
    out of the hand of your enemies.

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Footnotes

  1. Micah 4:9 Or King
  2. Micah 4:9 Or Ruler

and his face turned pale with fright. His knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him.

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His face turned pale(A) and he was so frightened(B) that his legs became weak(C) and his knees were knocking.(D)

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