Isaiah 21:3

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Isaiah 21:1–5 · Berean Standard Bible

1 This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.

2 A dire vision is declared to me: “The traitor still betrays, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I will put an end to all her groaning.”

3 Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see.

4 My heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight of my desire has turned to horror.

5 They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Isaiah 15:5

My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath-shelishiyah. With weeping they ascend the slope of Luhith; they lament their destruction on the road to Horonaim.

Isaiah 16:9

So I weep with Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer fruit and your harvest.

Isaiah 16:11

Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-heres.

Habakkuk 3:16

I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the people who invade us.

Isaiah 13:8

Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another, their faces flushed with fear.

Isaiah 26:17

As a woman with child about to give birth writhes and cries out in pain, so were we in Your presence, O LORD.

Psalms 48:6

Trembling seized them there, anguish like a woman in labor.

Jeremiah 48:41

Kirioth has been taken, and the strongholds seized. In that day the heart of Moab’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Jeremiah 49:22

Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down, spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s mighty men will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Jeremiah 50:43

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

Micah 4:9

Why do you now cry aloud? Is there no king among you? Has your counselor perished so that anguish grips you like a woman in labor?

Micah 4:10

Writhe in agony, O Daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor. For now you will leave the city and camp in the open fields. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies!

1 Thessalonians 5:3

While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

Deuteronomy 28:67

In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread in your hearts of the terrifying sights you will see.

Daniel 5:5

At that moment the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. As the king watched the hand that was writing,

Daniel 5:6

his face grew pale and his thoughts so alarmed him that his hips gave way and his knees knocked together.