Senses
1. pain, pang, birth-pang — Masculine noun meaning pain or pang, especially birth-pangs or labor pains. Used almost exclusively in prophetic contexts as a metaphor for intense suffering and anguish, particularly comparing the distress of divine judgment to a woman in labor. Attested in Job 21:17 ('pangs'), 39:3 ('their labor pains'); Isaiah 13:8 ('and pains like a woman in labor'), 26:17 ('in her pangs'), 66:7 ('before her labor pain came'); Jeremiah 13:21, 22:23, 49:24 ('pangs'); Hosea 13:13 ('pangs of childbirth'). All clusters are inflectional variants: singular hevel, plural havalim, construct hevley, and suffixed forms (hevleyhem 'their pains,' havaleyha 'her pangs'). Glosses uniformly confirm: Arabic 'makhad' (labor), Hindi 'pidayen' (pains), Korean 'jintong/sango' (labor pains), Spanish 'dolores' (pains). 9×
AR["أَوْجَاعٌ","الْمَخَاضِ","حِبَالًا","فِي-مَخَاضَاتِهَا","مَخاضُ","مَخَاضٌ","مَخَاضَهُنَّ","وَ-آلَامٌ","وَآلَامٌ"]·ben["এবং-প্রসব-বেদনা","ও-প্রসব-বেদনা","তাদের-প্রসব-বেদনাগুলি","তার-বেদনায়","দুঃখ","যন্ত্রণা"]·DE["[בחבליה]","[וחבלים]","[חבל]","[חבלי]","[חבליהם]","[חבלים]"]·EN["and-pains","in-her-pangs","labor-pain","pangs","pangs-of","their-labor-pains"]·FR["[בחבליה]","[וחבלים]","[חבל]","[חבלים]","corde","leur-חבליהם-eux","חבלים"]·heb["ב-חבליה","ו-חבלים","חבל","חבלי","חבליהם","חבלים"]·HI["उनकी-पीड़ाएं","और-दर्द","और-पीड़ाएं","दर्द","पीड़ाएँ","पीड़ाएं","में-पीड़ाओं-अपनी"]·ID["dalam-kesakitan-melahirkannya","dan-kesakitan","dan-penderitaan","kesakitan","kesakitan-kesakitan","sakit-bersalin","sakit-sakit mereka"]·IT["[חבלי]","e-regione","loro-fatica-pains-loro","pangs","regione"]·jav["ing-larakipun","kasangsaran","lan-kasusahan","lan-laran-laran","laranipun","sakit-ipun","sakit-mbabar"]·KO["고통들을","그것들-의-진통을","그리고-산고가","그의-산고-속에서","산고가","산고들이","진통들이","진통이"]·PT["Dores-de","dor","dores","e-angústias","e-dores","em-suas-dores","suas-dores"]·RU["в-схватках-её","и-муки","муки","муки-их","скорби","схватки"]·ES["dolores","dolores-de","en-sus-dolores","sus-dolores","y-angustias","y-dolores"]·SW["kamba","katika-uchungu-wake","maumivu","maumivu-ya","maumivu-yao","na-maumivu","na-uchungu","uchungu"]·TR["ağrılar","sancillarinda","sancı","sancılar","sancıları","sancılarını","sıkıntılar","ve-agrilar","ve-sancılar"]·urd["اور-تکلیفیں","اور-درد","اُن-کے-درد","اپنے-دردوں-میں","درد","دردہائے-زچگی-کی","دردیں"]
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† חֵ֫בֶל n.m. Is 66:7 (but v. Je 49:24) pain, pang;—ח׳ abs. Is 66:7; elsewhere pl. חֲבָלִים Is 13:8 + 3 times + Jb 21:17 v. infr.; cstr. חֶבְלֵי Ho 13:13; sf. חֲבָלֶיהָ Is 26:17; חֶבְלֵיהֶם Jb 39:3 (on sf. v. Ges§ 135, 5, R 1);—pain, pang: 1. pains of travail: a. obj. of תְּשַׁלַּחְנָה Jb 39:3 meton. for offspring (‖ יַלְדֵיהֶן; v. Di; of goats and hinds). b. sim. of distress of exiles Is 26:17;…