Jeremiah 4:31

Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor, anguish like a woman giving birth to her first child—the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands: 'Woe is me! My life is fainting before the killers.'

Additional Resources

Other Translations

  • King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

    For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

  • KJV1611 – Modern English

    For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, and the anguish as of her that brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewails herself, that spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

  • King James Version 1611 (Original)

    For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

  • American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

    For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that spreadeth her hands, [saying], Woe is me now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers.

  • King James Version with Strong's Numbers

    For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

  • Coverdale Bible (1535)

    For (me thinke) I heare a noyse, like as it were of a woman trauelinge, or one laboringe of hir first childe: Euen the voyce of the doughter Sion, that casteth out hir armes, and swowneth, sayenge: Ah wo is me, how sore vexed and faynte is my herte, for them that are slayne?

  • Geneva Bible (1560)

    For I haue heard a noyse as of a woman trauailing, or as one labouring of her first child, euen the voyce of the daughter Zion that sigheth and stretcheth out her handes: woe is me nowe: for my soule fainteth because of the murtherers.

  • Bishops' Bible (1568)

    For I heare a noyse lyke as it were of a woman trauaylyng, & one labouryng of her first childe, Euen the voyce of the daughter Sion, that casteth out her armes, and sowneth, saying: Ah, wo is me, howe sore vexed and faynt is my heart for feare of the murtherers?

  • Authorized King James Version (1611)

    For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, [and] the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, [that] bewaileth herself, [that] spreadeth her hands, [saying], Woe [is] me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

  • Webster's Bible (1833)

    For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, [saying], Woe is me now! for my soul faints before the murderers.

  • Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

    For a voice as of a sick woman I have heard, Distress, as of one bringing forth a first-born, The voice of the daughter of Zion, She bewaileth herself, she spreadeth out her hands, `Wo to me now, for weary is my soul of slayers!'

  • American Standard Version (1901)

    For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that spreadeth her hands, `saying', Woe is me now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers.

  • American Standard Version (1901)

    For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that spreadeth her hands, [saying], Woe is me now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers.

  • Bible in Basic English (1941)

    A voice has come to my ears like the voice of a woman in birth-pains, the pain of one giving birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, fighting for breath, stretching out her hands, saying, Now sorrow is mine! for my strength is gone from me before the takers of life.

  • World English Bible (2000)

    For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, [saying], "Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers."

  • NET Bible® (New English Translation)

    In fact, I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like that of a woman giving birth to her first baby. It is the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, reaching out for help, saying,“I am done in! My life is ebbing away before these murderers!”

Referenced Verses

  • Isa 1:15 : 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you. Even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.
  • Lam 1:17 : 17 Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The LORD has decreed for Jacob that his neighbors become his foes; Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.
  • Isa 13:8 : 8 They will be terrified; pain and anguish will grip them. They will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at each other in dismay, their faces aflame.
  • Jer 13:21 : 21 What will you say when He appoints leaders over you, those you taught to be rulers? Will not pain seize you like a woman in labor?
  • Jer 14:18 : 18 If I go out into the field, I see those slain by the sword. If I enter the city, I see the agonies of famine. Even the prophet and the priest wander aimlessly in the land and have no understanding.
  • Jer 15:18 : 18 Why has my pain become perpetual, and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream, waters that are unreliable?
  • Jer 18:21 : 21 So give their children over to famine; hand them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widowed, and let their men die by deadly disease; let their young men be struck down in battle.
  • Jer 22:23 : 23 You who live in Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when pains come upon you, anguish like that of a woman in labor!
  • Jer 30:6 : 6 Ask now and see: Can a man give birth? Why then do I see every strong man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor, and every face turned pale?
  • Jer 45:2 : 2 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch:
  • Jer 48:41 : 41 The cities are captured, and the strongholds are seized. On that day, the heart of Moab's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
  • Jer 49:22 : 22 Behold, an eagle will come up and swoop down, spreading its wings over Bozrah. On that day, the hearts of Edom's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
  • Jer 49:24 : 24 Damascus has grown weak; she turns to flee, and trembling has seized her. Anguish and pain have gripped her like a woman in labor.
  • Jer 50:43 : 43 The king of Babylon has heard the report about them, and his hands hang limp. Anguish grips him, pain like that of a woman in labor.
  • Isa 21:3 : 3 Therefore my body is filled with trembling; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor. I am bent over by what I heard; I am dismayed by what I saw.
  • Isa 42:14 : 14 For a long time, I have kept silent; I have held my peace and restrained myself. But now, like a woman in labor, I will cry out; I will gasp and pant together.
  • Jer 6:2 : 2 I have likened the beautiful and delicate Daughter of Zion to her destruction.
  • Jer 6:23-24 : 23 They grasp bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy. Their sound roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, arrayed as men for battle against you, Daughter Zion.' 24 We have heard the report about them, and our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.
  • Jer 10:19 : 19 Woe to me because of my brokenness! My wound is incurable. Yet I said, 'This is my suffering, and I must endure it.'
  • Isa 6:5 : 5 Then I said, "Woe to me! For I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts."
  • Gen 27:46 : 46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, 'I am disgusted with my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these women from the land, what good is my life to me?'
  • Job 10:1 : 1 I am disgusted with my life; I will give voice to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.
  • Ps 120:5 : 5 Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, and live among the tents of Kedar.
  • Lam 1:20 : 20 See, LORD, how distressed I am! I am in anguish within, my heart is overturned because I have been very rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is only death.
  • Lam 2:21 : 21 Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young women and young men have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.
  • Ezek 9:5-6 : 5 To the others, he said in my hearing, 'Pass through the city after him and strike down. Do not let your eye spare, and do not show pity.' 6 Old men, young men, virgins, children, and women—kill them all to the point of destruction. But do not go near anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.' So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple.
  • Ezek 23:46-47 : 46 For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘Bring a great assembly against them and hand them over to terror and plunder.' 47 They will stone them and cut them down with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses with fire.
  • Hos 13:13 : 13 The pains of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son; when it is time, he does not come to the opening of the womb.
  • Mic 7:1 : 1 Woe is me, for I am like those gathering summer fruit, like those gleaning after the harvest; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that my soul desires.
  • Matt 21:5 : 5 'Say to the daughter of Zion: See, your King is coming to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'
  • 1 Cor 9:16 : 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am compelled to do so. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
  • 1 Thess 5:3 : 3 While people are saying, "Peace and safety," sudden destruction will come upon them like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Mic 4:9-11
    3 verses
    82%

    9Why do you now cry aloud? Is there no king among you? Has your counselor perished, that pain seizes you like a woman in labor?

    10Writhe in pain and groan, Daughter Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you must leave the city and camp in the open field. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued. There the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

    11But now many nations are gathered against you, saying, 'Let her be defiled, and let our eyes gloat over Zion.'

  • Jer 6:24
    79%

    24We have heard the report about them, and our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.

  • Lam 2:10-13
    4 verses
    78%

    10The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and dressed themselves in sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground in despair.

    11My eyes are worn out from weeping, my inner being is in turmoil; my heart is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of my people, as children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

    12They cry out to their mothers, 'Where is the bread and the wine?' as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, and as they breathe their last in their mothers’ arms.

    13What can I say on your behalf? To what can I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken you to, so that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? Your wound is as vast as the sea—who can heal you?

  • Lam 1:16-18
    3 verses
    77%

    16"Because of these things I weep; my eyes, my eyes flow with tears. No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit. My children are desolate because the enemy has prevailed."

    17Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The LORD has decreed for Jacob that his neighbors become his foes; Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

    18The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against his word. Listen, all you peoples; look at my suffering. My young women and my young men have gone into captivity.

  • Isa 21:3
    77%

    3Therefore my body is filled with trembling; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor. I am bent over by what I heard; I am dismayed by what I saw.

  • Isa 22:4
    77%

    4Therefore I said, 'Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly. Do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of my people.'

  • Isa 26:17-18
    2 verses
    76%

    17As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her labor pains, so were we in Your presence, LORD.

    18We were pregnant, we writhed in pain, but we gave birth only to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and no one is born to inhabit the world.

  • Jer 30:5-6
    2 verses
    76%

    5This is what the LORD says: We have heard a sound of terror—a cry of fear, not peace.

    6Ask now and see: Can a man give birth? Why then do I see every strong man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor, and every face turned pale?

  • Jer 9:18-20
    3 verses
    76%

    18'For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: “How devastated we are! We are utterly ashamed, for we have left the land and our dwellings have been cast off.”'

    19'Hear the word of the Lord, you women; let your ears receive the words of His mouth. Teach your daughters to wail and one another to mourn.'

    20'For death has climbed in through our windows and entered our fortresses, cutting off children from the streets and young men from the public squares.'

  • Lam 1:1-4
    4 verses
    76%

    1How lonely sits the city, once so full of people! She has become like a widow, great among the nations, a princess among the provinces, now a slave.

    2Bitterly she weeps in the night, tears on her cheeks. There is no one to comfort her—all who loved her have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

    3Judah has gone into exile, suffering and hard service. She lives among the nations but finds no rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in narrow places.

    4The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed festivals. All her gates are desolate; her priests groan, her young women grieve, and she is in bitter anguish.

  • Isa 51:19
    75%

    19These double calamities have come upon you—destruction and devastation, famine and sword. Who will console you?

  • Jer 22:23
    75%

    23You who live in Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when pains come upon you, anguish like that of a woman in labor!

  • Jer 15:9
    75%

    9The mother of seven has grown weak and faint; she has breathed her last. Her sun has set while it was still day; she has been disgraced and humiliated. And the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword in the presence of their enemies,' declares the LORD.

  • Isa 42:14
    75%

    14For a long time, I have kept silent; I have held my peace and restrained myself. But now, like a woman in labor, I will cry out; I will gasp and pant together.

  • Lam 1:11-12
    2 verses
    75%

    11All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to stay alive. "Look, LORD, and consider, for I am despised."

    12"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the LORD inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.

  • Lam 4:10
    75%

    10The compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

  • Jer 8:19
    74%

    19Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away: 'Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King no longer there?' Why have they provoked me to anger with their idols, with their worthless foreign gods?

  • Jer 14:17
    74%

    17You are to speak this word to them: 'Let my eyes flow with tears night and day without ceasing, for the virgin daughter of my people has suffered a great shattering—a crushing blow, a grievous wound.'

  • Jer 50:43
    74%

    43The king of Babylon has heard the report about them, and his hands hang limp. Anguish grips him, pain like that of a woman in labor.

  • Isa 3:26
    73%

    26The city gates will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.

  • Jer 6:26
    73%

    26O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes; mourn as for an only son, with bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

  • Jer 4:30
    73%

    30And you, devastated one, what will you do? Though you dress in scarlet, adorn yourself with gold jewelry, and enlarge your eyes with makeup, you beautify yourself in vain. Your lovers reject you; they seek your life.

  • Jer 6:2
    73%

    2I have likened the beautiful and delicate Daughter of Zion to her destruction.

  • Jer 8:21
    73%

    21Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me.

  • Lam 2:19-21
    3 verses
    73%

    19Arise, cry out in the night, at the start of the night watches; pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your little children who faint from hunger at every street corner.

    20Look, LORD, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their own children, the little ones they have cherished? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

    21Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young women and young men have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.

  • Jer 49:24
    73%

    24Damascus has grown weak; she turns to flee, and trembling has seized her. Anguish and pain have gripped her like a woman in labor.

  • Lam 1:6
    72%

    6All the splendor has departed from Daughter Zion. Her princes are like deer that find no pasture; they flee without strength before the pursuer.

  • Jer 4:19
    72%

    19My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! My heart pounds within me; I cannot remain silent, for I have heard the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

  • Jer 14:19
    72%

    19Have You utterly rejected Judah? Does Your soul loathe Zion? Why have You struck us so that we cannot be healed? We hoped for peace, but no good has come; for a time of healing, but there was only terror.

  • Jer 14:2
    72%

    2Judah mourns, and her gates languish; they sit on the ground in mourning, and the cry of Jerusalem rises up.

  • Nah 2:10
    72%

    10Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The supply is endless, the abundance of all treasures.

  • Isa 49:14
    72%

    14But Zion said, 'The Lord has abandoned me, and my Lord has forgotten me.'

  • Luke 21:23
    72%

    23Woe to those who are pregnant and nursing in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people.