The Greek that is translated as “agony of death” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with Fesseln des Todes or “shackles of death.” They explain: “Literally: ‘the pangs of death”; however, the speaker is probably referring to the expression ‘the cords of death’ in the Hebrew Bible, namely in Psalm 18:5 and 116:3. The Hebrew word chäbäl, ‘cord,’ was possibly read as chebel, ‘agony, pang.'”