Fear took hold of them there, And pain, as of a woman in birth pangs,
Parallel translations
- WEB Trembling took hold of them there, pain, as of a woman in travail.
- KJV Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
- BSB Trembling seized them there, anguish like a woman in labor.
- NASB Panic seized them there, Anguish, as that of a woman in childbirth.
- NLT They were gripped with terror and writhed in pain like a woman in labor.
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
Trembling seized them there, anguish like a woman in labor. It matters because it vividly portrays the helpless terror of those who oppose God.
Overview
The enemies' dread is described with the image of labor pains, sudden, gripping, and inescapable. Their fear is total before the God who guards His city. This pictures the fate of all who set themselves against the Lord, while assuring His people of His mighty protection accomplished fully in the victory of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Isa 13:6–8Wail; for the day of Yahweh is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
- Hos 13:13The 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.
- 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?
- Dan 5:6Then the king’s face was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his thighs were loosened, and his knees struck one against another.
- Exod 15:15–16Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed. Trembling takes hold of the mighty men of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
- Isa 21:3Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have taken hold on me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can’t hear. I so am dismayed that I can’t see.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 48:6 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.