Four rhetorical questions begin this verse. These questions highlight the fact that giving birth before labor is something quite extraordinary. They imply that only God can make this happen. For languages that do not favor the use of rhetorical questions, see the second example below.

Who has heard such a thing? means that nobody has ever heard of a woman giving birth in this way.

Who has seen such things? means that nobody has ever seen such a thing happen.

Shall a land be born in one day? means that no country can come into being in one day. The metaphor of a woman giving birth without labor pains is applied to a country here. Be born in one day refers to a speedy birth, as in the previous verse.

Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? means that no nation can come into being in an instant. This question is parallel and synonymous with the previous one.

For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her sons: This climactic statement identifies the woman of verse 7 as Zion, that is, Jerusalem. Jerusalem will have many inhabitants very quickly. The Hebrew particle ki rendered For is not a logical connector here. It is more likely a contrastive conjunction (“Yet” in New Revised Standard Version and New International Version). It indicates that what was seen as impossible in the previous lines will nevertheless happen for Jerusalem. The verb forms in these last two lines may refer to a past event (so Revised Standard Version) or a future one (so Good News Translation). Since the future is clearly in view in the next verse, translators may prefer it here also. There is a slight variation in the imagery here from that of verse 7, because here the children are born just as labor begins rather than before it. This slight difference in imagery is not unusual in poetry, which uses at times contrasting, even contradictory, images to present its view of reality.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?
Has anyone ever seen such a thing?
Is it possible for a country to be born in one day?
Is it possible for a nation to appear in an instant?
Yet just as soon as Zion went into labor,
she bore her children.

• Nobody has ever heard of such a thing!
Nobody has ever seen such happenings!
No country is born in one day!
No nation comes into being in an instant!
But the moment Zion goes into labor
she will bring forth her children.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .