These verses describe the mental and physical anguish of the people. The total ruin coming to Babylon would cause such fear that their hands would become lax, powerless, and unable to resist the enemy. The people would be left without courage and unable to fight back. They would writhe in pain like a mother bearing her child, and their faces would be red from embarrassment and glowing from fear.
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt.