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paÌ„n (חוּל, hÌ£uÌ„l, חיל, ḥı̄l, חבל, hÌ£eÌ„bhel, חלה, hÌ£aÌ„laÌ„h, חלחלה, hÌ£alhÌ£aÌ„laÌ„h, ×›Ö¼×ב, kaÌ„'-eÌ„bh, ×›Ö¼×ב, ke'eÌ„bh, מצר, meÌ„car, מכ×ב, makh'oÌ„bh, עמל, ‛aÌ„maÌ„l, ציר, cı̄r; βασανιÌζω, basanıÌzo, ποÌνος, poÌnos, ὠδιÌν, oÌ„dıÌn): These words signifying various forms of bodily or mental suffering are generally translated “painâ€; 28 out of the 34 passages in which the word is used are in the poetical or prophetical books and refer to conditions of mental disquiet or dismay due to the punishment of personal or national sin. There is only one instance where the word is used as a historic record of personal physical pain: the case of the wife of Phinehas (), but the same word cı̄r is used figuratively in ; ; , and translated “pangs†or “sorrows.†In other passages where we have the same comparison of consternation in the presence of God's judgments to the pangs of childbirth, the word used is hÌ£eÌ„bhel, as in ; ; ; . In some of these and similar passages several synonyms are used in the one verse to intensify the impression, and are translated “pain,†“pangs,†and “sorrows,†as in .
The word most commonly used by the prophets is some form of hÌ£uÌ„l or ḥı̄l, sometimes with the addition “as of a woman in travail,†as in ; ; ; ; . This pain is referred to the heart () or to the head (; compare , ). In , it is the penal affliction of Ethiopia, and in , the King James Version “Sin (Tanis) shall have great pain†(the Revised Version (British and American) “anguishâ€); in Egypt is sorely pained at the news of the fall of Tyre. Before the invading host of locusts the people are much pained ( the King James Version). Pain in the sense of toil and trouble in is the translation of hÌ£aÌ„laÌ„h a word more frequently rendered grieving or sickness, as in ; ; ; . The reduplicated form hÌ£alhÌ£aÌ„laÌ„h is especially used of a twisting pain usually referred to the loins (; , ; ).
Pain in the original meaning of the word (as it has come down to us through the Old French from the Latin poena) as a penalty inflicted for personal sin is expressed by the words kā'ēbh or ke'ābh in ; , and in the questioning complaint of the prophet (). As a judgment on personal sin pain is also expressed by makh'obh in ; , but this word is used in the sense of afflictions in in the expression “man of sorrows.†The Psalmist () praying for deliverance from the afflictions which weighed heavily on him in turn uses the word ‛āmāl, and this word which primarily means “toil†or “labor,†as in , or “travail†as in , is translated “painful†in , as expressing Asaph's disquiet due to his misunderstanding of the ways of Providence. The “pains of hell†( the King James Version), which got hold of the Psalmist in his sickness, is the rendering of the word mēcar; the same word is translated “distress†in . Most of these words have a primary physical meaning of twisting, rubbing or constricting.
In the New Testament, oÌ„din is translated “pain†(of death, the Revised Version (British and American) “pangâ€) in . This word is used to express any severe pain, such as that of travail, or (as in Aeschylus, Choephori, 211) the pain of intense apprehension. The verb from this, oÌ„dunoÌ„Ìmai, is used by the Rich Man in the parable to describe his torment (the Revised Version (British and American) “anguishâ€) (). The related verb sunoÌ„dıÌnoÌ„ is used in and is translated “travailing in pain together.†In much the same sense, the word is used by Euripides (Helena, 727).
In the woman clothed with the sun (basanizomeÌneÌ„) was in pain to be delivered; the verb (basanizoÌ„) which means “to torture†is used both in in the account of the grievously tormented centurion's servant, and in the description of the laboring of the apostles' boat on the stormy Sea of Galilee (). The former of these seems to have been a case of spinal meningitis. This verb occurs in Thucydides vii. 86 (viii. 92), where it means “being put to torture.†In the two passages in Revelation where pain is mentioned the word is ponos, the pain which affected those on whom the fifth vial was poured (), and in the description of the City of God where there is no more pain (). The primary meaning of this word seems to be “toil,†as in Iliad xxi. 525, but it is used by Hippocrates to express disease (Aphorisma iv. 44).