⁸ Terror^(A) will seize them,
    pain and anguish will grip^(B) them;
    they will writhe like a woman in labor.^(C)
They will look aghast at each other,
    their faces aflame.^(D)

³ 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.

¹⁷ As a pregnant woman about to give birth^(A)
    writhes and cries out in her pain,
    so were we in your presence, Lord.

⁷ “Before she goes into labor,^(A)
    she gives birth;
before the pains come upon her,
    she delivers a son.^(B)

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)

⁹ 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)