PART 4 of The Woman in Travail: How Birth Became the Bible’s Most Powerful End-Times Metaphor
Micah and the Messianic Birth — From Travail to Bethlehem
Hello brothers and sisters.
We’re tracing the “woman in travail” metaphor from its ancient origins through the Hebrew prophets and into the New Testament. By the end, you’ll understand why the early church saw all of history as a long labor, groaning for the final revelation of God’s kingdom.
By comparing the Masoretic Text and Septuagint, we’re not just studying translation differences; we’re watching how different communities of faith understood God’s word and passed it on. The LXX sometimes softens the Hebrew, sometimes sharpens it, and sometimes interprets it in ways that shaped early Christian theology.
Understanding both traditions deepens our reading of Scripture and enriches our grasp of how God’s people have wrestled with these texts across millennia.
In Parts 1, 2, and 3, we traced the birth pang metaphor from its ancient Near Eastern origins through Isaiah’s strategic deployment and Jeremiah’s intensive saturation. We’ve seen how the metaphor describes judgment, anguish, and the death of the old order.
If you missed the earlier posts, you can get caught up below:
But now we turn to Micah, who does something extraordinary: he explicitly connects the birth pang imagery to the coming of the Messiah.
In Micah’s prophecy, the labor isn’t just about suffering; it’s about the arrival of the Davidic ruler from Bethlehem. The woman in travail becomes the key to understanding when and how the Promised One will appear.
Let’s dive in!
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Micah: The Prophet of the Little People
Before we dive into the texts, we need to understand who Micah was and why his use of the birth metaphor carries such theological weight.
Micah prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (Micah 1:1); roughly 750-698 BC. He was a contemporary of Isaiah, but while Isaiah ministered in Jerusalem among the royal court and the elite, Micah came from Moresheth, a small rural town in the Shephelah (the lowland region of Judah, about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem).
Micah was a rural prophet, and his message consistently championed the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized against the corrupt urban elite. He railed against unjust judges, greedy priests, and false prophets who “build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity” (Micah 3:10). He famously summarized true religion not in ritual but in ethics: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).
This background matters because when Micah prophesies that the Messiah will come from Bethlehem— not Jerusalem, not the royal palace, but a tiny, insignificant village —he’s making a theological statement consistent with his entire prophetic message: God exalts the lowly. God chooses the insignificant. The last shall be first.
And when Micah uses the birth pang metaphor, he’s not just describing national judgment. He’s describing the labor that will bring forth the Ruler, the Shepherd-King who will gather God’s scattered flock.
Micah 4:9-10 — Zion’s Labor and Deliverance
Let’s begin with Micah 4:9-10, which provides the foundation for understanding chapter 5.
The Hebrew Text:
Micah 4:9 (MT):
עַתָּה לָמָּה תָרִיעִי רֵעַ הֲמֶלֶךְ אֵין־בָּךְ אִם־יוֹעֲצֵךְ אָבָד כִּי־הֶחֱזִיקֵךְ חִיל כַּיּוֹלֵדָה
Literal Translation:
“Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished? For pangs (chil) have seized you like a woman in labor (ka-yoledah).”
Micah 4:10 (MT):
חוּלִי וָגֹחִי בַּת־צִיּוֹן כַּיּוֹלֵדָה כִּי־עַתָּה תֵצְאִי מִקִּרְיָה וְשָׁכַנְתְּ בַּשָּׂדֶה וּבָאת עַד־בָּבֶל שָׁם תִּנָּצֵלִי שָׁם יִגְאָלֵךְ יְהוָה מִכַּף אֹיְבָיִךְ
Literal Translation:
“Writhe (chuli) and groan (gochi), O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor (ka-yoledah), for now you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.”
Unpacking the Imagery
First, the question (v. 9): “Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished?”
This is Micah’s way of describing the crisis of exile. When Judah is conquered and Jerusalem falls, it will seem as though the kingship has failed. The Davidic monarchy, which was supposed to last forever according to God’s covenant with David (2 Samuel 7), will appear to have ended. The nation’s leaders— the king, the counselors, the wise men —will be either dead, exiled, or powerless.
And in that moment of collapse, pangs will seize Zion like a woman in labor.
The verb הֶחֱזִיקֵךְ (hecheziqek), “have seized you,” is the same verb used in Jeremiah 6:24, 13:21, 49:24, and 50:43. It means “to take hold of, to grasp, to seize.” The image is of being caught in an inescapable grip. Labor has started, and there’s no stopping it.
Second, the command (v. 10): “Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion!”
This is remarkable. Micah is not trying to comfort Zion or tell her the pain won’t be that bad. He’s commanding her to embrace the labor. “Writhe! Groan! Don’t try to suppress the pangs; give in to them!”
The vocabulary here is intense:
חוּלִי (chuli) — Imperative form of חוּל (chul), “writhe, twist, whirl.” Micah is saying: Writhe! Experience the full force of the contractions.
וָגֹחִי (va-gochi) — from the root גּוּחַ (guach), “to burst forth, to break out.” Some translate this as “groan” or “push.” It’s the explosive, violent effort of pushing during labor.
Why would Micah command Zion to embrace the agony? Because the labor leads somewhere. The pain has a purpose.
Third, the promise (v. 10b): “There you shall be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you.”
Notice the structure:
Labor begins — “Now you shall go out from the city”
Exile — “You shall go to Babylon”
Deliverance — “There you shall be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you”
The birth metaphor makes perfect sense here. Zion’s exile to Babylon is labor rather than death. She’s being pushed out of the city, forced into the wilderness, taken to a foreign land. But this isn’t the end. It’s the transition stage of birth. And when the labor is complete, deliverance will come.
“There”— in Babylon, in exile, in the place of deepest suffering —“the LORD will redeem you.”
LXX Rendering of Micah 4:9-10
Micah 4:9 (LXX):
καὶ νῦν ἵνα τί ἔγνως κακά μὴ βασιλεὺς οὐκ ἦν σοι ἢ ἡ βουλή σου ἀπώλετο ὅτι κατέλαβόν σε ὠδῖνες ὡς τικτούσης
Brenton Translation:
“And now, why have you known calamities? Was there not a king to you? Or has your counsel perished that pangs as of a woman in travail have seized upon you?”
Micah 4:10 (LXX):
ὠδίνε καὶ ἀνδρίζου καὶ ἔγγιζε θύγατερ Σιων ὡς τίκτουσα ὅτι νῦν ἐξελεύσῃ ἐκ πόλεως καὶ κατασκηνώσεις ἐν πεδίῳ καὶ ἥξεις ἕως Βαβυλῶνος ἐκεῖθεν ῥύσεταί σε καὶ ἐκεῖθεν λυτρώσεταί σε κύριος ὁ θεός σου
Brenton Translation:
“Be in pain, and strengthen thyself, and draw near, O daughter of Sion, as a woman in travail: for now thou shalt go forth out of the city, and shalt lodge in the plain, and shalt reach even to Babylon: thence shall the Lord thy God deliver thee, and thence shall he redeem thee out of the hand of thine enemies.”
Key Greek Terms:
ὠδῖνες (ōdines) — “birth pangs” (v. 9)
τικτούσης (tiktousēs) — “of one giving birth” (v. 9)
ὠδίνε (ōdine) — Imperative: “Be in labor! Suffer birth pangs!” (v. 10)
τίκτουσα (tiktousa) — “a woman giving birth” (v. 10)
The LXX uses both ὠδίν (ōdin) words (emphasizing the pangs themselves) and τίκτω (tiktō) words (emphasizing the act of giving birth). This dual vocabulary captures the full experience: both the pain and the delivery.
Interestingly, the LXX translates the Hebrew גֹחִי (gochi, “push/groan”) with ἀνδρίζου (andrizou), “be strong, act courageously,” which is a more interpretive rendering that emphasizes the effort and courage required in labor. The Septuagint translators understood that childbirth demands not just endurance but active participation.
Theological Significance
Micah 4:9-10 establishes a critical principle: The labor leads to deliverance. Zion will suffer. She will be exiled. She will cry out in anguish. But the pain is not meaningless. It’s the necessary transition to redemption.
This sets the stage for chapter 5, where Micah will reveal what (or rather, who) is being born through this labor.
Micah 5:2-3 — The Ruler from Bethlehem
Now we arrive at one of the most famous Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, quoted by Matthew in his Gospel (Matthew 2:6) to identify Jesus as the fulfillment of Israel’s hopes.
The Hebrew Text:
Micah 5:2 (MT) [Micah 5:1 in English Bibles]:
וְאַתָּה בֵּית־לֶחֶם אֶפְרָתָה צָעִיר לִהְיוֹת בְּאַלְפֵי יְהוּדָה מִמְּךָ לִי יֵצֵא לִהְיוֹת מוֹשֵׁל בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וּמוֹצָאֹתָיו מִקֶּדֶם מִימֵי עוֹלָם
Literal Translation:
“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from ancient days.”
Micah 5:3 (MT) [Micah 5:2 in English Bibles]:
לָכֵן יִתְּנֵם עַד־עֵת יוֹלֵדָה יָלָדָה וְיֶתֶר אֶחָיו יְשׁוּבוּן עַל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
Literal Translation:
“Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor (yoledah) has given birth (yaladah). Then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel.”
Bethlehem: The Insignificant Chosen
Micah begins with an address to Bethlehem Ephrathah.
Why “Ephrathah”? Because there were multiple places called Bethlehem in ancient Israel (see Joshua 19:15, there’s a Bethlehem in Zebulun). By adding “Ephrathah,” Micah specifies the Bethlehem in Judah, the village located about six miles south of Jerusalem.
This is David’s hometown. David was an Ephrathite from Bethlehem (1 Samuel 17:12; Ruth 1:2; 4:11). When Samuel came looking for Israel’s future king, he went to Bethlehem and found him among the sheep (1 Samuel 16:1-13).
But notice Micah’s description: Bethlehem is צָעִיר (tza’ir), “small, insignificant, too little.” The village wasn’t even important enough to be listed among the cities of Judah in Joshua 15. It was a backwater, a rural hamlet, a place of no consequence.
And yet from this insignificant village, the Ruler will come.
This is vintage Micah. He’s the prophet of the little people, the champion of the marginalized. And here he announces that God’s ultimate King won’t emerge from the palaces of Jerusalem but from the shepherding fields of Bethlehem. The pattern that began with David continues: God chooses the youngest, the smallest, the least likely.
“Whose Goings Forth Are from of Old”
The second half of verse 2 has been the subject of intense debate:
וּמוֹצָאֹתָיו מִקֶּדֶם מִימֵי עוֹלָם
“whose goings forth are from of old, from ancient days”
Let’s break down the Hebrew:
מוֹצָאֹתָיו (motza’otav) — “his goings forth, his origins, his source”
מִקֶּדֶם (miqqedem) — “from before, from of old”
מִימֵי עוֹלָם (mimei olam) — “from days of eternity/antiquity”
What does this mean?
There are basically three interpretive options:
The Davidic Dynasty Interpretation: The phrase refers back to David and the establishment of the Davidic line centuries before Micah. The “goings forth” are the origins of the royal house, which stretch back to “ancient days” (i.e., David’s time, roughly 250 years before Micah). This is a common Jewish interpretation.
The Eternal Pre-existence Interpretation: The phrase indicates that the coming Ruler existed before creation, from eternity past. The Hebrew olam can mean “eternity,” and when used with God (as in Psalm 90:2), it clearly means “everlasting.” This is the traditional Christian interpretation, seeing here a hint of the Messiah’s divine nature.
The Covenantal Promise Interpretation: The phrase refers to God’s ancient promise to David in 2 Samuel 7, which was given “from of old.” The “goings forth” are not the Messiah’s personal pre-existence but the promise of his coming, which has its roots in Israel’s covenantal history.
My Take:
The phrasing is deliberately ambiguous, which gives the verse a deep theological richness. At a minimum, Micah is saying that this Ruler is not a novelty. His coming has been anticipated, promised, woven into Israel’s history from the beginning.
But I believe it’s more than that. Significantly more.
To be clear, as I find is the case more often than not, I see no reason why the answer cannot be all three simultaneously. Clearly, Micah is referencing the historic promise that David’s line would rule forever. But clearly it’s also a reference to the now-ancient promise of a coming Redeemer in the form of the Messiah, which Isaiah tells us would be Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, and Mighty God. Which tells us that Micah’s phrase also refers to the eternal pre-existence of the promised Messiah.
Now, whether or not Micah understood the full implications (and I suspect he didn’t), the language he uses is obviously open to the possibility of both divine pre-existence and the dynastic and covenantal interpretations (both of which, I suspect, were what Micah had in mind), which is precisely why Matthew and the early church saw Jesus as fulfilling this prophecy in ways that transcend what Micah himself might have envisioned.
The tension between “born in Bethlehem” (localized, temporal, human) and “from days of eternity” (cosmic, timeless, divine) is precisely the tension the New Testament will navigate when talking about Jesus: truly, fully human. Truly, fully God.
“Until the Time When She Who Is in Labor Has Given Birth”
Now we get to the heart of the matter: the explicit connection between the birth metaphor and the arrival of the Messiah.
Micah 5:3a (MT):
לָכֵן יִתְּנֵם עַד־עֵת יוֹלֵדָה יָלָדָה
“Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor (yoledah) has given birth (yaladah).”
Who is “he” who gives them up?
Most likely, this refers to God. The Lord will give Israel up— to exile, to suffering, to the nations —but only “until” a specific moment.
Until when?
עַד־עֵת יוֹלֵדָה יָלָדָה
“until the time when a woman in labor has given birth.”
This is where Micah connects everything. He’s been using birth imagery since 4:9-10 to describe Zion’s exile. Now in 5:3, he explicitly links the end of the suffering to a birth event.
Who is the woman in labor?
There are three main interpretations:
Zion/Israel herself — This fits with Micah 4:9-10, where the Daughter of Zion is explicitly described as a woman in labor. The suffering of exile is Israel’s labor, and when that labor is complete (when deliverance comes), the Messiah will arrive.
The mother of the Messiah — This view sees a reference to the virgin birth, with the “woman in labor” being Mary. Early Christian interpreters often took this approach, seeing Micah 5:3 as a prophecy of the Incarnation.
Both/And — Perhaps the most compelling reading is that Micah intends both. The “woman in labor” is Zion (corporate Israel suffering in exile), and the “woman who gives birth” is the individual mother of the Messiah. The two images merge: Israel’s collective suffering becomes the context for the Messiah’s personal birth.
The Vocabulary:
יוֹלֵדָה (yoledah) — “one who is in labor” (feminine singular participle of yalad)
יָלָדָה (yaladah) — “she has given birth” (feminine singular perfect of yalad)
Micah uses the same root twice: first as a participle (describing ongoing labor) and then as a perfect verb (describing completed action). The labor will continue until the birth happens. But when the birth happens, everything changes.
“Then the Rest of His Brothers Shall Return”
Micah 5:3b (MT):
וְיֶתֶר אֶחָיו יְשׁוּבוּן עַל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
“Then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel.”
After the birth, there will be a gathering. The scattered will return. The exiles will come home. The “brothers” (whether this means fellow Israelites or the Messiah’s own kinsmen) will rejoin the people of Israel.
This is the fulfillment of what was promised in Micah 4:6-7:
“In that day, declares the LORD, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted; and the lame I will make the remnant, and those who were cast off, a strong nation; and the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore.”
The birth leads to gathering. The labor leads to restoration.
LXX Rendering of Micah 5:2-3
Micah 5:2 (LXX):
καὶ σύ Βηθλεεμ οἶκος τοῦ Εφραθα ὀλιγοστὸς εἶ τοῦ εἶναι ἐν χιλιάσιν Ιουδα ἐκ σοῦ μοι ἐξελεύσεται τοῦ εἶναι εἰς ἄρχοντα ἐν τῷ Ισραηλ καὶ αἱ ἔξοδοι αὐτοῦ ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς ἐξ ἡμερῶν αἰῶνος
Literal Translation:
“And you, Bethlehem, house of Ephrathah, are few in number to be among the thousands of Judah; from you shall come forth to me one to be a ruler in Israel, and his goings forth are from the beginning, from days of eternity.”
Micah 5:3 (LXX):
διὰ τοῦτο δώσει αὐτοὺς ἕως καιροῦ τικτούσης τέξεται καὶ οἱ ἐπίλοιποι τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτῶν ἐπιστρέψουσιν ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς Ισραηλ
Literal Translation:
“Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is giving birth (tiktousa) shall bring forth (texetai), and the remnant of their brothers shall return to the sons of Israel.”
Key Greek Terms:
αἱ ἔξοδοι αὐτοῦ (hai exodoi autou) — “his goings forth/his exoduses” (v. 2). Interestingly, the LXX uses the word ἔξοδος (exodos), which can mean “departure” or “going out.” This is the same word used for the Exodus from Egypt! The Septuagint subtly hints that the coming Ruler’s origins are connected to Israel’s great deliverance narrative.
ἐξ ἡμερῶν αἰῶνος (ex hēmerōn aiōnos) — “from days of eternity” (v. 2). The LXX uses αἰών (aiōn), which can mean “age, era, eternity.” This maintains the ambiguity of the Hebrew olam.
τικτούσης (tiktousēs) — “one who is giving birth” (v. 3), from τίκτω (tiktō), “to give birth”
τέξεται (texetai) — “shall bring forth” (v. 3), future tense of tiktō
The Septuagint clearly preserves the birth imagery in verse 3, using standard Greek birth terminology. The woman “giving birth” is central to the timing of the Messiah’s coming.
The Connection: Micah 4:9-10 + 5:2-3 as a Unified Prophecy
Now let’s step back and see how these passages work together. Many commentators note that Micah 4:8–5:6 should be read as a single literary unit with a clear structure:
4:9-10 — Zion in labor; exile to Babylon; promise of deliverance
4:11-13 — Nations gather against Zion, but God will defeat them
5:1 — Siege against Israel; the judge of Israel struck
5:2-3 — The Ruler from Bethlehem; birth imagery again
5:4-6 — The Shepherd-King will rule; peace and deliverance
The birth metaphor brackets the whole unit (4:9-10 and 5:2-3), creating an inclusio. The message is clear:
Zion will suffer labor pains (exile, judgment, suffering)
But the labor has a purpose — to bring forth the Messianic Ruler
The Ruler will come from Bethlehem, the insignificant village
When the birth happens, the exiles will return and the Shepherd-King will reign
This is not two separate prophecies. It’s one unified message: The suffering of exile and the birth of the Messiah are connected. Zion’s labor is the context for the Messiah’s arrival.
Matthew’s Use of Micah 5:2
When the Magi arrive in Jerusalem looking for the “king of the Jews” (Matthew 2:2), Herod consults the chief priests and scribes, asking where the Messiah was to be born. They immediately quote Micah 5:2.
Matthew 2:6
“And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”
Notice what Matthew does:
He quotes the first part of Micah 5:2 about Bethlehem and the Ruler.
He doesn’t quote the second part about “whose goings forth are from of old, from ancient days.”
He doesn’t quote Micah 5:3 about the woman in labor.
Why the selective quotation? Because Matthew is establishing the where (Bethlehem), not arguing for the when or the how.
But interestingly, Matthew’s entire birth narrative functions as a fulfillment of Micah 5:3. Even though he doesn’t quote it explicitly, Matthew shows us:
A woman in labor (Mary) giving birth in Bethlehem
A time of suffering (Herod’s massacre of the infants, exile to Egypt)
A return (from Egypt back to the land of Israel)
Matthew understands that the Messiah’s birth happens in the context of Israel’s ongoing labor: the suffering of God’s people under Roman occupation, the longing for deliverance, the groaning for redemption.
The Targum Jonathan and Early Jewish Interpretation
It’s worth noting that pre-Christian Jewish interpretation understood Micah 5:2 as Messianic. The Targum Jonathan (an Aramaic paraphrase and commentary from the 1st century BC or later) translates Micah 5:2 like this:
“And you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, you who were too small to be numbered among the thousands of the House of Judah, from you shall come forth before Me the Messiah, to exercise dominion over Israel, he whose name was mentioned before, from the days of creation.”
This shows that the identification of Micah 5:2 with the Messiah was not a Christian innovation. It was part of the Jewish messianic expectation.
The phrase “whose name was mentioned before, from the days of creation” interprets the difficult Hebrew phrase mimei olam in a maximalist way: the Messiah’s name (or person) existed from before creation. This is a striking parallel to what Christians would later say about Jesus’s pre-existence.
Of course, modern Jewish interpretation (post-Jesus) has often moved away from this reading, reinterpreting Micah 5:3’s “woman in labor” as a reference to the birth pangs of the Messianic Age rather than the birth of the Messiah himself. But the early tradition is clear: Bethlehem was where the Messiah would be born.
Theological Synthesis: Labor + Birth = Messiah
What Micah accomplishes that Isaiah and Jeremiah did not is the explicit connection between the birth metaphor and the coming of Messiah.
Isaiah used birth pangs to describe judgment on nations (Babylon, Tyre) and Israel’s suffering (26:17-18), but he didn’t connect it directly to the Messiah’s arrival.
Jeremiah saturated his prophecy with birth imagery to describe universal judgment and the death of the old order, but again, he didn’t link it explicitly to the birth of a Messianic figure.
Micah makes the connection explicit. He says:
Zion will suffer like a woman in labor (4:9-10)
This suffering will continue until a woman gives birth (5:3)
When the birth happens, the Ruler from Bethlehem will come (5:2)
And then restoration and gathering will follow (5:3b-4)
Labor → Birth → Messiah → Restoration
This is the sequence. And it’s this sequence that Jesus and the New Testament writers will adopt when talking about the end times.
When Jesus says in Matthew 24:8, “All these are the beginning of birth pangs,” he’s not inventing new imagery. He’s standing in the tradition of Micah (and Isaiah and Jeremiah). He’s saying: “The suffering you’re about to experience is labor. And what’s being born through this labor is the Kingdom of God: the reign of the Messiah, the restoration of all things.”
A Note on “She Who Is in Labor”
One final observation about Micah 5:3. The Hebrew phrase עַד־עֵת יוֹלֵדָה יָלָדָה (ad-et yoledah yaladah) is fascinating because it uses both the participle (yoledah, “one who is laboring”) and the finite verb (yaladah, “she has given birth”).
This is not redundant. It emphasizes the transition from labor to delivery.
The labor is ongoing (yoledah: present, continuous). But there will come a moment when the labor ends and the birth happens (yaladah: completed action, perfect tense).
Until that moment arrives, the suffering continues. But when that moment comes— when the birth happens —everything changes.
This is the hope that sustains God’s people through the labor. The pain is not forever. The exile is not permanent. The suffering has a term. There is a time (עֵת, et) appointed— a kairos moment —when the woman in labor will give birth.
And when she does, the Messiah will be here. And the scattered will return. And the Shepherd-King will reign.
If you’ve found this helpful or insightful, please share it with a friend who loves Scripture as much as you do.
Coming Up Next
In Part 5, we’ll do a comprehensive analysis of the Hebrew and Greek terminology across all the prophets, comparing how the Masoretic Text and Septuagint render birth pang imagery. We’ll cover lexical charts, examine translation patterns, and explore how the LXX standardization of vocabulary influenced New Testament usage.
Until then, let Micah’s vision sink in:
The labor is not meaningless. The suffering has a purpose. The exile will end. And when the woman in travail finally gives birth, the Ruler from Bethlehem will come, and all the scattered children will return home.
The pain is real. But the birth is coming.
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