What does ὠδίν (ōdín) mean in the Bible?
ὠδίν (ōdín): Intense suffering likened to childbirth pangs; NT metaphor for end-times tribulation and death's grip.
Greek · G5604
ὠδίν
A pang or throe, especially of childbirth
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ὠδίνG5604
Pronunciationōdín
What does ὠδίν (ōdín) mean in the Bible?
ὠδίν (ōdín): Intense suffering likened to childbirth pangs; NT metaphor for end-times tribulation and death's grip.
Full entry for ὠδίν (G5604) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G5604?
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include of birth pains (2), agony (1), labor pains (1).
Where does ὠδίν (ōdín) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 24:8. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Thessalonians (1), Acts (1), Mark (1), Matthew (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itof birth pains2×Matthew 24:8, Mark 13:8
agony1×Acts 2:24
labor pains1×1 Thessalonians 5:3
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 24:8
Aligned rows4
Books represented4
Matthew1Mark1Acts11 Thessalonians1
Source forms
ὠδίνων2xōdinōnMatthew 24:8, Mark 13:8
ὠδὶν1xōdin1 Thessalonians 5:3
ὠδῖνας1xōdinasActs 2:24
Parsing patterns
Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural2xMatthew 24:8, Mark 13:8
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural1xActs 2:24
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular1x1 Thessalonians 5:3
Evidence Summary
Creation
Greek word. Intense suffering likened to childbirth pangs; NT metaphor for end-times tribulation and death's grip.
Strong'sG5604
Lexical occurrences4 versesGreek text appearances4 timesWord forms3 forms4 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkMark 13:3–8Source Gloss
a pang or throe, especially of childbirth
Extended definitionSource: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Intense suffering likened to childbirth pangs; NT metaphor for end-times tribulation and death's grip.
(late form of ὠδίς), -ῖνος, ἡ [in LXX for חֵבֶל חֶבֶל (and wrongly for חֶבֶל חֶבֶל, cf. Ac, l.with), חִיל, etc. ;] a birth pang, travail pain: 1Th.5:3; metaphorically, of extreme suffering, Mat.24:8, Mrk.13:8; ὠδῖνες θανάτου (Psa.18:4 מָוֶת חֶבֶל), Act.2:24.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
4 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 24:8Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ὠδίνων.wdinwn
the pain of childbirth, severe agony
Read verseMark 13:8Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ὠδίνωνwdinwn
the pain of childbirth, severe agony
Read verseActs 2:24Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
ὠδῖναςwdinav
the pain of childbirth, severe agony
Read verse1 Thessalonians 5:3Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
ὠδὶνwdin
the pain of childbirth, severe agony
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 3 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns3Aligned forms4Case patternGenitive (2)Number patternPlural (3)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Feminine1 Thess 5:31×
Genitive · Plural · FeminineMatt 24:8 · Mark 13:82×
Accusative · Plural · FeminineActs 2:241×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Additional Occurrences
Mark 13:3–13ὠδίνōdín
birth pains; labor contractions
New Testament Witnesses
birth pains
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 4 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ὠδίν is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Indicates beginning stage of eschatological events.
Canonical Themes
Creation
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.