Bible Strands
Romans 8:22
We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul addresses believers in Rome while explaining the current condition of the natural world within the broader argument of Romans 8 about future redemption.
The words — συστενὲζει (sustenazei) translates literally as "groans together," describing a collective, ongoing labor. οἴδαμεν (oidamen) means "we know," marking the statement as a settled fact rather than speculation.
The thread — The motif of cosmic mourning appears in Jeremiah 12:4 and Jeremiah 12:11, where the land mourns due to human evil, while John 16:21 applies the childbirth pain metaphor to temporary suffering preceding joy.
Why it lands — The text states that creation currently endures a collective, labor-like suffering that has persisted until now. It requires the reader to acknowledge this present brokenness as a shared reality preceding future liberation.
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 Greek words
King James Version
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 12:4 How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, “He cannot see what our end will be.”
- Jeremiah 12:11 They have made it a desolation; desolate before Me, it mourns. All the land is laid waste, but no man takes it to heart.
- John 16:21 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.
- Romans 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope
- Colossians 1:23 if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
- Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
- Psalms 48:6 Trembling seized them there, anguish like a woman in labor.
- Revelation 12:2 She was pregnant and crying out in the pain and agony of giving birth.