One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at {one} end,

Damascus is waxed feeble, {and} turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on {her}: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.

Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing {of it}; I was dismayed at the seeing {of it}.

Howl ye; for the day of the LORD {is} at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.

We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, {and} pain, as of a woman in travail.

And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak {as} water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD. {shall be weak...: Heb. shall go into water}

Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? {a man: Heb. a male}

Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing {of it}; I was dismayed at the seeing {of it}.

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.

Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised, and the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. {Kerioth: or, The cities}

And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.

One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at {one} end,

A sound of a cry {cometh} from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:

Now why dost thou cry out aloud? {is there} no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.

And when Saul's son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these {are} the beginnings of sorrows. {sorrows: the word in the original importeth "the pains of a woman in travail"}

Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: {be faint: or, fall down}

And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces {shall be as} flames. {be amazed: Heb. wonder} {one...: Heb. every man at his neighbour} {flames: Heb. faces of the flames}