Jeremiah 13:21 What will you say when the LORD sets over you those you cultivated as your special allies? Will not pain grip you like that of a woman in labor?

◄ Jeremiah 13:21 ►

Parallel Verses

New International Version
What will you say when the LORD sets over you those you cultivated as your special allies? Will not pain grip you like that of a woman in labor?

English Standard Version
What will you say when they set as head over you those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you? Will not pangs take hold of you like those of a woman in labor?

New American Standard Bible
"What will you say when He appoints over you-- And you yourself had taught them-- Former companions to be head over you? Will not pangs take hold of you Like a woman in childbirth?

King James Bible
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?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
What will you say when He appoints close friends as leaders over you, ones you yourself trained? Won't labor pains seize you, as they do a woman in labor?

International Standard Version
What will you say when the LORD appoints over you as your head those whom you taught to be your allies? Pain will seize you like that seizing a woman about to give birth, will it not?

American Standard Version
What wilt thou say, when he shall set over thee as head those whom thou hast thyself taught to be friends to thee? shall not sorrows take hold of thee, as of a woman in travail?

Douay-Rheims Bible
What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee? for thou hast taught them against thee, and instructed them against thy own head: shall not sorrows lay hold on thee, as a woman in labour?

Darby Bible Translation
What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee, since thou thyself hast trained them to be princes in chief over thee? Shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?

Young's Literal Translation
What dost thou say, when He looketh after thee? And thou -- thou hast taught them to be over thee -- leaders for head? Do not pangs seize thee as a travailing woman?

Cross References

Matthew 24:8
All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Isaiah 13:8
And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travails: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

Jeremiah 2:25
Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst: but you said, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

Jeremiah 4:30
And when you are spoiled, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you rend your face with painting, in vain shall you make yourself fair; your lovers will despise you, they will seek your life.

Jeremiah 4:31
For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that mourns herself, that spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

Jeremiah 6:24
We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

Jeremiah 38:22
And, behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say, Your friends have set you on, and have prevailed against you: your feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back.

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Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

13:18-27 Here is a message sent to king Jehoiakim, and his queen. Their sorrows would be great indeed. Do they ask, Wherefore come these things upon us? Let them know, it is for their obstinacy in sin. We cannot alter the natural colour of the skin; and so is it morally impossible to reclaim and reform these people. Sin is the blackness of the soul; it is the discolouring of it; we were shapen in it, so that we cannot get clear of it by any power of our own. But Almighty grace is able to change the Ethiopian's skin. Neither natural depravity, nor strong habits of sin, form an obstacle to the working of God, the new-creating Spirit. The Lord asks of Jerusalem, whether she is determined not be made clean. If any poor slave of sin feels that he could as soon change his nature as master his headstrong lusts, let him not despair; for things impossible to men are possible with God. Let us then seek help from Him who is mighty to save.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

21. captains, and as chief—literally, "princes as to headship"; or "over thy head," namely, the Chaldeans. Rather, translate, "What wilt thou say when God will set them (the enemies, Jer 13:20) above thee, seeing that thou thyself hast accustomed them (to be) with thee as (thy) lovers in the highest place (literally, 'at thy head')? Thou canst not say God does thee wrong, seeing it was thou that gave occasion to His dealing so with thee, by so eagerly courting their intimacy." Compare Jer 2:18, 36; 2Ki 23:29, as to the league of Judah with Babylon, which led Josiah to march against Pharaoh-necho, when the latter was about to attack Babylon [Maurer].

sorrows—pains, throes.