21. A woman (7) yuv7). Lit., the woman. The generic article marking the woman as representing her sex: woman as such.
She is in travail. A common Old Testament image of sor- row issuing in joy. See Isa. xxi. 3; xxvi. 17; lxvi. 7; Hos. xiii. 13; Mic. iv. 9, 10.
The anguish (ris IrApews). Commonly rendered affliction or tribulation in A. V. See on Matt. xiii. 21.
Joy (77 yapav). Properly, the joy which answers to the anguish.
A man (avSpwros). See on i. 30.
22. Have sorrow (Avmny éxere). This form of expression occurs frequently in the New Testament, to denote the posses- sion or experience of virtues, sensations, desires, emotions, in- tellectual or spiritual faculties, faults, or defects. It is stronger than the verb which expresses any one of these. For instance, to have faith is stronger than to believe: to have life, than the act of living. It expresses a distinct, personal realization of the virtue or fault or sentiment in question. Hence, to Aave sorrow is more than éo be sorrowful. In Matt. xvii. 20, Christ does not say ¢f ye believe, but if ye have faith ; if faith, in ever so small a degree, is possessed by you as a conscious, living principle and motive. Compare have love (xiii. 85; 1 John iv. 16); have peace (xvi. 33); have trust (2 Cor. iii. 4); have boldness (Heb. x. 19; 1 John ii. 28).
23. Ye shall ask (€pwrycere). Or, as Rev., in margin, ask— question. To question is the primary meaning of the verb, from which it runs into the more general sense of request, be- seech. So Mark vii. 26; Luke iv. 38; John xvii. 15, ete. Here the meaning is, ye shall ask me no question (compare ver. 19, where the same verb is used). Compare Matt. xvi. 13; xxi. 24; John i. 19. Ask, absolutely, Luke xxii. 68. Note, more- over, the selection of the word here as marking the asking on