It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world.
Parallel translations
- WEB A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow, because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn’t remember the anguish any more, for the joy that a human being is born into the world.
- KJV A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
- BSB A woman has pain in childbirth because her time has come; but when she brings forth her child, she forgets her anguish because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.
- NKJV A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
- NASB Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus likens their experience to childbirth: pain gives way to joy once the child is born. Sorrow yields to greater joy.
Overview
Using the image of a woman in labor, Jesus illustrates how present anguish is swallowed up by the joy that follows. The pain of His death will be forgotten in the joy of His resurrection and the new life it brings. The picture captures the gospel pattern in which suffering precedes and gives way to lasting joy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Isa 13:8They will be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows will seize them. They will be in pain like a woman in labor. They will look in amazement one at another. Their faces will be faces of flame.
- Ps 113:9He settles the barren woman in her home, as a joyful mother of children. Praise Yah!
- 1 Th 5:3For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman; and they will in no way escape.
- Jer 30:6–7Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned pale?
- Hos 13:13–14The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him. He is an unwise son; for when it is time, he doesn’t come to the opening of the womb.
- Isa 26:16–18Yahweh, in trouble they have visited you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.
- Mic 4:10Be in pain, and labor to give birth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now you will go out of the city, and will dwell in the field, and will come even to Babylon. There you will be rescued. There Yahweh will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.
- Rev 12:2–5She was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth.
- Gen 3:16To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bear children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
- Luke 1:57–58Now the time that Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she gave birth to a son.
- 1 Sam 1:26–27She said, “Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to Yahweh.
- Gen 21:6–7Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.”
- Gen 30:23–24She conceived, bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”
- Gal 4:27For it is written, “Rejoice, you barren who don’t bear. Break out and shout, you that don’t travail. For more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband.”
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 16:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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