And alas for pregnant women, and for those who are nursing infants in those days!
how terrible
for birth
to be put
on holdhow terrible
for babes
to be put
on holdhow terrible
for breath
to be put
on holdholds
hold
all
terrible.
“Terrible” might better be translated as “Painful”. This makes it a double pain for pregnant women who face labor pains along with the pain of displacement. It may even be more than a double pain if someone is nursing more than one child at a time. These sorts of pains do not max out.
I found it interesting that at this point a guide to translators into different languages and cultures [Bratcher408] felt it necessary to warn about the terms, “pregnant” and “nursing”:
…there are always expressions for pregnancy in all languages. The trouble is that there are so many, some of which are regarded as vulgar, others as humorous, and still others as proper, though in this latter instance propriety may be dictated by whether a man or a woman is speaking.
[Nursing or] “Give suck” must be translated with care in order to avoid possible vulgar expressions and also so as to make certain that the words of Jesus are those which are fitting for a man to utter, since often distinctions are made between men’s and women’s speech at this point.
While this is couched in cultural terms it might carry with it a question of what it means that Good News is also scandalous news when it comes to challenging an entrenched control of yesterday and tradition over tomorrow and a new partnership. It is this conservative tendency that can keep religion from making needed changes in its own processes as well as engagement with a larger community.
The question here is, when does propriety becomes the enemy of Good News?
This is an intensifier as to troubles that are in the offing as consequences of decisions being made today. The “O Woe” that begins this verse reminds us of the plight of widows and orphaned children who become a focal point for the prophets of every age. Those with the least security seem to be the first to have even their little security taken from them. This is far more basic than an urban/rural dichotomy. This is bedrock meanness being lived out at women’s expense.