The Lord describes what Judah’s response to the report of the advancing enemy will be like. The nation will be as weak and defenceless as a woman in the throes of childbirth.1 There is a wordplay between the enemy who lay hold
on bow and javelin and the people whom “anguish has taken hold of." The same Hebrew verb hazaq is used in both places.2 The people are paralyzed by fear and totally exposed in the face of this powerful invader.
24 We have heard the report of it; our hands fall helpless; anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labor.