Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 4:31

"For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that spreadeth her hands, [saying], Woe is me now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers." — Jeremiah 4:31 (ASV)

A woman in travail. —Literally, writhing in pain, as in Jeremiah 4:19.

Bewaileth herself. —Literally, pants for breath. The prophet draws his pictures with a fearsome intensity. On the one side is Zion as the harlot, in her gold and crimson and cosmetics; on the other we see the forlorn and desperate castaway, in the hour of a woman’s utter helplessness, outraged and abandoned, stretching out her hands to implore mercy from the assassins who attack her, and imploring it in vain.