tsir denotes pains that come upon a person, including distress compared with a woman in labor.

The attested forms describe pains arriving upon or seizing a person: in some clauses they accompany childbirth, while in others they portray overwhelming distress through the same labor comparison.

1. Pains that seize or overwhelm · dominant

   The plural forms occur in clauses of pains coming upon or seizing someone. In 1 Samuel 4:19 the APB renders that the woman gave birth because “her pangs came upon her”; in Daniel 10:16 it renders “my pangs turned upon me” as the speaker loses strength. Isaiah 13:8 and Isaiah 21:3 portray such pains as seizing people and compare them with a woman in labor.

   1 Samuel 4:19Daniel 10:16Isaiah 13:8Isaiah 21:3

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB presents the term with “pangs” in all four verses, adding “pains” alongside it in Isaiah 13:8. These renderings confirm the clauses' portrayal of distress without fixing a separate English equivalent for each form.