The image of the prostitute in Jeremiah 4:30 is developed. She is now pregnant and in the throes of a painful and deadly birth.1 In his vision Jeremiah hears the woman cry as of a woman in labor,
in anguish. He understands that Jerusalem’s very life is at risk.2 This is a picture of vulnerability and helplessness coupled with intense agony at a sudden pain never experienced before
.3 It is not a pleasant image, but it is designed to catch the attention of Jeremiah’s audience and to perhaps penetrate their dull minds.4
31 For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor, anguish as of one giving birth to her first child, the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands, “Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”