John 16:21

ἡ γυνή. The article is generic; this is the general law: comp. ὁ δοῦλος (John 15:15). The metaphor is frequent in O. T. Isaiah 21:3; Isaiah 26:17; Isaiah 66:7; Hosea 13:13; Micah 4:9. See on Mark 13:8. Note the articles in what follows; the child, the anguish, the joy,—always to be found in such a case. But the joy effaces the anguish, because a human being (ἄνθρωπος), the noblest of God’s creatures, is born. Μόχθου γὰρ οὐδεὶς τοῦ παρελθόντος λόγος.