Bible Strands
Hosea 13:13
Labor pains come upon him, but he is an unwise son. When the time arrives, he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Ephraim through the prophet Hosea immediately after declaring that the nation's iniquity is bound up and stored away. The oracle confronts a people facing imminent crisis with the imagery of a failed childbirth.
The words — חֶבְלֵי יֽוֹלֵדָה (chev.Lei yo.le.Dah) literally translates to "pains of one who gives birth," while לֹא חָכָם בֵן (lo' chakham ben) states "he is not a wise son." The text declares these pains will come upon him, yet he will not present himself at the opening of the womb when the time arrives.
The thread — The same labor metaphor appears in Isaiah 37:3, Isaiah 13:8, and Isaiah 26:17 to depict national distress and terror. The imagery links Ephraim's stored sin to a birth that yields no deliverance, standing in direct contrast to the ransom and redemption declared in Hosea 13:14.
Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to acknowledge that accumulated sin produces judgment rather than relief. It demands the recognition that self-reliance will fail at the moment of crisis, leaving only the possibility of divine intervention.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 37:3 to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
- 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.
- 2 Kings 19:3 to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
- Psalms 48:6 Trembling seized them there, anguish like 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?
- Proverbs 22:3 The prudent see danger and take cover, but the simple keep going and suffer the consequences.
- Isaiah 66:9 Shall I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?” says the LORD. “Or will I who deliver close the womb?” says your God.
- Jeremiah 4:31 For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child—the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands to say, “Woe is me, for my soul faints before the murderers!”
- Jeremiah 22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you, agony like a woman in labor.”