The Woman in Travail: How Birth Became the Bible’s Most Powerful End-Times Metaphor
PART 1: The Metaphor’s Ancient Roots and Hebrew Foundations
Hello brothers and sisters.
Welcome to your next multi-part, deep dive paid series. This one will be exploring one of Scripture’s most pervasive and profound metaphors. Over the next eight installments, we’ll trace the “woman in travail” idiom from its ancient Near Eastern origins through the Hebrew prophets and into Jesus’ own eschatological discourse. Along the way, we’ll compare how the Masoretic Text and Septuagint render these passages, examine the Hebrew and Greek terminology, and watch as a metaphor of judgment transforms into a metaphor of hope; the birth pangs that precede the arrival of God’s kingdom.
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Why This Metaphor Matters
If you’ve spent any time reading the prophets, you’ve encountered it: the image of a woman writhing in labor, crying out in anguish, gripped by pangs she cannot escape. Isaiah uses it. Jeremiah saturates his prophecy with it. Micah employs it at a crucial messianic juncture. And then, centuries later, Jesus himself adopts this precise imagery when describing the signs of the end times.
“All these,” he tells his disciples in Matthew 24:8, “are the beginning of birth pangs“ (ἀρχὴ ὠδίνων, archē ōdinōn).
This wasn’t random. Jesus was deliberately invoking an entire prophetic tradition; a way of speaking about divine judgment, national catastrophe, and eschatological transformation that his Jewish audience would have recognized immediately. But to understand what Jesus meant, we need to go back to the beginning. We need to understand where this metaphor came from, how the Hebrew prophets used it, and what made childbirth such a powerful image for describing the end of one age and the birth of another.
This series will do exactly that.
The Ancient Near Eastern Context: Childbirth as Crisis and Transformation
Before we dive into the biblical text, we need to understand something crucial: childbirth in the ancient world was not the medicalized, relatively safe event it is in modern Western society. It was dangerous. It was terrifying. And it was surrounded by ritual, incantation, and desperate appeals to the gods.
Ancient Near Eastern cultures were acutely aware of the dangers of pregnancy and childbirth, which were commonly attributed to supernatural causes at a time when medical knowledge was limited. In Mesopotamian mythology, the goddess Lamashtu was believed to cause death and miscarriage by touching the stomach of a pregnant woman, while the Kūbu demon, a manifestation of restless stillborn souls, was blamed for illnesses that took the lives of newborns.
Mesopotamian cuneiform texts dealing with women’s healthcare show that from the second half of the 3rd millennium B.C. until the end of the 1st millennium B.C., reproduction was perceived as the realm where women were in particular need of care. Therapeutic texts specifically mention women when dealing with ailments related to female genital problems and procreation in a wide sense.
The ancient world had birth incantations, protective amulets, and elaborate rituals designed to ward off demonic forces and ensure a safe delivery. One frequent trope in Mesopotamian childbirth incantations regards the historiola of the cow and the Moon-God: the god Sîn falls in love with a cow, she gets pregnant, and as she experiences difficulties and pain in giving birth, Sîn sends two protective spirits to help her; she finally gives birth to a calf. The aim of the incantation is stated at the end: as the cow of Sîn gave birth without further difficulties, so the woman in dire straits may give birth to her baby.
This was the cultural backdrop against which the Hebrew prophets wrote. When they reached for a metaphor to describe inescapable anguish, overwhelming terror, and the complete loss of control, they reached for childbirth.
Why? Because everyone in their audience— whether they had experienced it themselves or witnessed it —knew exactly what birth pangs felt like. They knew the escalating intensity. They knew the inevitability. They knew that once labor began, there was no stopping it. The baby was coming, whether you were ready or not.
And that’s precisely what made it such a powerful metaphor for divine judgment.
The Hebrew Vocabulary: חוּל, יָלַד, and חֶבֶל
Before we examine specific prophetic texts (which we’ll do in Parts 2-4), we need to establish the Hebrew terminology. The prophets drew from a rich lexical field of birth-related language, and understanding these terms will be essential as we trace the metaphor’s development.
חוּל (chul) - Strong’s H2342: “To Twist, Whirl, Writhe”
This is the primary Hebrew verb for the physical writhing and twisting associated with labor pains. It’s a visceral, violent word.
The root meaning of chul (חוּל) is “to twist or whirl in a circular or spiral manner,” and specifically “to dance, to writhe in pain (especially of parturition) or fear.” Figuratively, it can also mean “to wait” or “to pervert.”
The semantic range is fascinating. Chul can mean:
To dance (circular, whirling motion)
To writhe in pain (especially childbirth)
To tremble in fear (the body’s involuntary response to terror)
To whirl about (like a tempest)
To wait anxiously (the agony of anticipation)
Notice how the core meaning— twisting, whirling —connects all these uses. A woman in labor twists and writhes. A person in terror trembles and writhes. A storm whirls and twists. The body under extreme duress loses its composure; it contorts, it convulses, it writhes.
This is the word the prophets use most frequently when describing nations under judgment. The physical anguish of labor becomes a metaphor for the psychological and spiritual anguish of divine wrath.
Key prophetic uses of chul:
Isaiah 13:8 - “They will be in pain [yachulu] as a woman in labor [ka-yoleḏah]” (Babylon’s judgment)
Isaiah 26:17 - “Like a pregnant woman who writhes [tachil] and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O LORD”
Jeremiah 4:19 - “My anguish, my anguish! I writhe [achilah] in pain!” (Jeremiah’s personal distress over Judah’s coming destruction)
Jeremiah 51:29 - “The land trembles and writhes [watachol]” (Babylon’s fall)
Micah 4:9-10 - “Writhe [chuli] and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor”
In each case, chul conveys the involuntary, inescapable nature of the suffering. You cannot choose not to writhe when you’re in labor. You cannot will away the contractions. The body takes over, and you can only endure.
יָלַד (yalad) - Strong’s H3205: “To Bear, Bring Forth, Beget”
While chul describes the process of labor (the writhing, the pain), yalad describes the act of giving birth; the bringing forth of new life.
The Hebrew verb yalad (יָלַד) means “to give birth, to bear,” and is sometimes translated as “to beget.” It appears in contexts ranging from literal childbirth (”Hannah conceived and bore a son,” 1 Samuel 1:20) to genealogical lists (”became a father to” or “fathered”) to metaphorical uses where cities, nations, or even God “bring forth” something new.
The prophets use yalad in fascinating ways:
Literal birth: “Before she was in labor [tachil] she gave birth [yaledah]” (Isaiah 66:7)
Metaphorical birth: “We were pregnant, we writhed [chalnu], but we gave birth to [yaladnu] wind” (Isaiah 26:18—a devastating image of futile labor)
Divine begetting: “The Rock who fathered you [m’cholelcha]” (Deuteronomy 32:18)
National birth: “Can a land be born [yuchal] in one day? Or can a nation be brought forth [yiwaled] all at once?” (Isaiah 66:8)
Notice how yalad always carries the sense of bringing something new into existence. Even when the prophets use it negatively (birthing wind, birthing iniquity), the image is one of production. Something is coming out of this painful process, even if it’s nothing, even if it’s disaster.
This is crucial for understanding how the metaphor develops. The prophets aren’t just talking about suffering for suffering’s sake. They’re talking about suffering that produces something. Labor has a purpose. There’s a baby at the end. Or at least, there’s supposed to be.
חֶבֶל (chevel) - Strong’s H2256: “Cord, Rope, Birth Pangs”
This noun, derived from a root meaning “cord” or “rope,” came to signify the pangs or contractions of childbirth; those rhythmic, intensifying waves of pain that pull and constrict like a tightening rope.
The word appears frequently in the phrase חֶבְלֵי יוֹלֵדָה (chevlei yoledah), literally “the cords/pangs of one giving birth”:
Isaiah 13:8 - “Pangs [tsirim] and pains [chevlim] will seize them”
Isaiah 26:17 - “cries out in her pangs [chevaleha]”
Jeremiah 22:23 - “How you will groan when pangs [chevlim] come upon you, pain as of a woman in labor [ka-yoledah]!”
Micah 4:9 - “For pangs [chil] have seized you like a woman in labor [ka-yoledah]”
The imagery of cords or ropes captures something profound about labor: the binding, pulling, constricting sensation of contractions. You are gripped, seized, bound by something beyond your control. The pain tightens like a rope around you, and you cannot escape it.
This is the language the prophets use to describe nations caught in the grip of divine judgment. You cannot negotiate with birth pangs. You cannot postpone them. You cannot escape them. They come in waves, they intensify, and they culminate in something being born, whether it’s deliverance or destruction.
The Metaphor’s Basic Structure
Now that we have the vocabulary, we can identify the basic structure of the “woman in travail” metaphor as it appears throughout the Hebrew prophets:
Sudden Onset: Labor often begins unexpectedly, catching the woman off guard. Similarly, divine judgment comes suddenly: “Destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
Inescapable Progression: Once labor begins, there’s no stopping it. The contractions come whether you want them or not. This captures the inevitability of God’s purposes: “For pangs have seized you like a woman in labor” (Micah 4:9).
Escalating Intensity: Birth pangs don’t remain constant; they increase in frequency and severity. This mirrors the escalation of judgment in prophetic literature.
Loss of Control: A woman in hard labor cannot maintain composure. She cries out, she writhes, she loses all sense of dignity or self-consciousness. This describes the complete breakdown of human strength before divine judgment.
Public Vulnerability: In the ancient world, childbirth was not private. Midwives and female relatives were present. The woman’s anguish was witnessed. This captures the public shame often associated with national judgment.
The Birth: Crucially, labor always culminates in birth. Something new emerges. Whether that’s a new era, a new nation, or (in the case of failed labor) nothing at all, the metaphor always implies transformation. The old order is passing away. Something else is coming.
Looking Ahead: From Judgment to Hope
Here’s what makes this metaphor so powerful and why it’s worth spending eight installments tracing its development:
The prophets use birth pangs to describe judgment, but birth pangs always precede birth.
Think about that. When Isaiah says Babylon will writhe like a woman in labor, he’s not just saying Babylon will suffer. He’s saying something is being born through Babylon’s suffering. When Jeremiah describes Jerusalem writhing in labor pains, he’s describing not just destruction but transformation.
And when Jesus says “all these are the beginning of birth pangs,” he’s telling his disciples that the catastrophes of the end times— wars, famines, earthquakes —are not random suffering. They’re labor pains. Something is being born. The kingdom of God is coming, and its arrival will be like a birth: inevitable, unstoppable, and accompanied by anguish that gives way to joy.
“A woman giving birth has pain because her hour has come,” Jesus says in John 16:21, “but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a human being has been born into the world.”
That’s where we’re going. But first, we need to see how the prophets built this metaphor, passage by passage, layer by layer.
In Part 2, we’ll examine Isaiah’s extensive use of the birth pang imagery, particularly in chapters 13, 21, 26, and 66. We’ll see how Isaiah moves from using childbirth as a metaphor for Gentile judgment (Babylon, Tyre) to using it as a metaphor for Israel’s own suffering, and finally to using it as a metaphor for the miraculous birth of the new Jerusalem.
We’ll also begin comparing how the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint render these passages, paying close attention to how the Greek translators chose to translate chul and yalad and what theological implications those choices might have.
Until then, remember: when you read about nations writhing in anguish, you’re not just reading about suffering. You’re reading about transformation. Something old is dying. Something new is being born.
And the pain? That’s just how new eras arrive.
Coming Up Next
Part 2: Isaiah’s Birth Pangs, From Babylon’s Fall to Zion’s Miraculous Delivery
This is a paid subscriber exclusive series. The metaphor of the woman in travail appears in at least 20+ Old Testament passages and becomes foundational to Jesus’ eschatological teaching. By the end of this series, you’ll understand why the early church saw history itself as a pregnancy, groaning in labor pains as it awaits the final revelation of God’s sons.
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