Bible Strands
Jeremiah 6:24
We have heard the report; our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The people of Zion speak in response to the advancing enemy forces described in the preceding verse. They address their own impending defeat as the threat becomes immediate.
The words — שָׁמַ֥עְנוּ (sha.Ma'.nu) means "we heard," and רָפ֣וּ (ra.Fu) means "they hung limp." These terms describe the immediate physical reaction to the incoming threat.
The thread — The text parallels the king of Babylon’s reaction in Jeremiah 50:43, who also heard a report and grew feeble, and echoes the labor pains motif in Jeremiah 4:31 and 49:24 to convey overwhelming distress.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition of helplessness when facing divine judgment, showing that human strength fails before the reality of the coming sword.
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
We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
Cross-references
- 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 49:24 Damascus has become feeble; she has turned to flee. Panic has gripped her; anguish and pain have seized her like a woman in labor.
- Jeremiah 50:43 The king of Babylon has heard the report, and his hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped him, pain like that of a woman in labor.
- 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.
- Isaiah 28:19 As often as it passes through, it will carry you away; it will sweep through morning after morning, by day and by night.” The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.
- Jeremiah 4:19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle.
- 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?
- Jeremiah 30:6 Ask now, and see: Can a male give birth? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor and every face turned pale?
- Psalms 48:6 Trembling seized them there, anguish like a woman in labor.
- Proverbs 1:27 when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you.