Look, the enemy is coming like clouds. Their war chariots are like a whirlwind, and their horses are faster than eagles. We are lost! We are doomed!

The LORD has promised that a nation will swoop down on Moab like an eagle with its outspread wings,

and the towns and fortresses will be captured. On that day Moab's soldiers will be as frightened as a woman in labor.

The LORD will bring against you a nation from the ends of the earth, a nation whose language you do not know. They will swoop down on you like an eagle.

The first one looked like a lion, but had wings like an eagle. While I was watching, the wings were torn off. The beast was lifted up and made to stand up straight. And then a human mind was given to it.

The LORD says, "Sound the alarm! Enemies are swooping down on my land like eagles! My people have broken the covenant I made with them and have rebelled against my teaching.

The people of Damascus are weak and have fled in terror. They are in pain and misery like a woman in labor.

I heard a cry, like a woman in labor, a scream like a woman bearing her first child. It was the cry of Jerusalem gasping for breath, stretching out her hand and saying, "I am doomed! They are coming to kill me!"

"We have heard the news," say the people of Jerusalem, "and our hands hang limp; we are seized by anguish and pain like a woman in labor.

What will you say when people you thought were your friends conquer you and rule over you? You will be in pain like a woman giving birth.

You rest secure among the cedars brought from Lebanon; but how pitiful you'll be when pains strike you, pains like those of a woman in labor.

Now stop and think! Can a man give birth to a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor? Why is everyone so pale?

and the towns and fortresses will be captured. On that day Moab's soldiers will be as frightened as a woman in labor.

The danger of death was around me, and the grave set its trap for me.

They will all be terrified and overcome with pain, like the pain of a woman in labor. They will look at each other in fear, and their faces will burn with shame.

What I saw and heard in the vision has filled me with terror and pain, pain like that of a woman in labor.

You, LORD, have made us cry out, as a woman in labor cries out in pain.

When people say, "Everything is quiet and safe," then suddenly destruction will hit them! It will come as suddenly as the pains that come upon a woman in labor, and people will not escape.