The people cry out, ¹  “We have heard reports about them! We have become helpless with fear! ²  Anguish grips us, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby!

biblegateway Jer 6:24

We have heard the report of it; Our hands are limp. Anguish has seized us, Pain as of a woman in childbirth.

We have heard about it, and we are discouraged. Distress has seized us--pain like a woman in labor.

We have heard the news about them. Our hands hang limp. We are gripped by anguish and pain like a woman giving birth to a child.

biblegateway Jer 6:24

We have heard reports about them, and our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labour.

We have heard the report of it; our hands fall helpless; anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labor.

bibleoremus Jer 6:24

"We have heard news of them, our hands fall helpless; anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labor.

News of them has reached us and our hands hang limp; agony grips us, pangs as of a woman in labour.

biblegateway Jer 6:24

We have heard the report of it; Our hands grow feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, Pain as of a woman in labor.

We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, [and] pain, as of a woman in travail.

biblegateway Jer 6:24

The people cry out, ¹  “We have heard reports about them! We have become helpless with fear! ²  Anguish grips us, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby!

¹ tn These words are not in the text, but, from the context, someone other than God is speaking and is speaking for and to the people (either Jeremiah or the people themselves). These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

² tn Or “We have lost our strength to do battle”; Heb “Our hands hang limp [or helpless at our sides].” According to BDB 951 s.v. רָפָה Qal.2, this idiom is used figuratively for losing heart or energy. The best example of its figurative use of loss of strength or the feeling of helplessness is in Ezek 21:12 where it appears in the context of the heart (courage) melting, the spirit sinking, and the knees becoming like water. For other examples compare 2 Sam 4:1; Zeph 3:16. In Neh 6:9 it is used literally of the builders “dropping their hands from the work” out of fear. The words “with fear” are supplied in the translation because they are implicit in the context.