2 Esdras 4:42

42 For just as a woman who is in travail makes haste to escape the pangs of birth, so also do these places hasten to give back those things that were committed to them from the beginning.

2 Esdras 4:42 In-Context

40 He answered me and said, "Go and ask a woman who is with child if, when her nine months have been completed, her womb can keep the child within her any longer."
41 And I said, "No, lord, it cannot." And he said to me, "In Hades the chambers of the souls are like the womb.
42 For just as a woman who is in travail makes haste to escape the pangs of birth, so also do these places hasten to give back those things that were committed to them from the beginning.
43 Then the things that you desire to see will be disclosed to you."
44 I answered and said, "If I have found favor in your sight, and if it is possible, and if I am worthy,
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.