Bible Strands
Jeremiah 13:21
What will you say when He sets over you close allies whom you yourself trained? Will not pangs of anguish grip you, as they do a woman in labor?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses Judah’s leadership during the impending collapse of the nation, immediately after warning of invaders coming from the north. He confronts them with a rhetorical question about their future helplessness when the political allies they cultivated become instruments of judgment.
The words — The Hebrew yifqod (יִפְקֹד) literally means "he will appoint" or "visit," denoting the sovereign placement of these allies over Judah. The verb limmadt (לִמַּדְתְּ) translates to "you taught," emphasizing Judah’s own responsibility in forging these bonds.
The thread — The labor-pain metaphor appears in Jeremiah 4:31 and Isaiah 13:8 to depict national judgment, while Isaiah 10:3 mirrors the rhetorical question about facing reckoning without recourse.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment of self-inflicted political and spiritual failure before divine judgment arrives. It strips away excuses by forcing the reader to confront the inevitable consequences of trusting human alliances over God.
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
What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?
Cross-references
- 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.
- 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!”
- Isaiah 10:3 What will you do on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
- Isaiah 39:2 And Hezekiah welcomed the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, as well as his entire armory—all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his palace or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
- Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?
- Jeremiah 38:22 All the women who remain in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and those women will say: ‘They misled you and overcame you—those trusted friends of yours. Your feet sank into the mire, and they deserted you.’
- 2 Kings 16:7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hands of the kings of Aram and Israel, who are rising up against me.”
- Isaiah 21:3 Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see.
- Jeremiah 6:24 We have heard the report; our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.
- 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.”