(Isa. 54:1)
In Jewish culture, childbirth is associated with singing, rejoicing, and reciting psalms. A woman sings when she first discovers that she will have a baby, as Mary does after Gabriel’s annunciation that she would bear the Christ child: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luke 1:46–47). A woman also sings when her baby is safely delivered, as Hannah does after the birth of Samuel: “My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in my salvation” (1 Sam. 2:1). Even today, an orthodox Jewish mother will use the words of a psalm to give thanks for the birth of her firstborn child: “Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob” (Ps. 81:1). Singing is a token of the covenant that promises that barren women will have posterity, that the Lord will have children in Zion, and that the Lord’s people will have children in their homes. The singing of angels heralded the birth of Jesus, who will redeem the whole earth with a covenant of peace and goodwill (see Luke 2:13–14).
Cry aloud means “shout,” especially to make a joyful noise as in singing (see Ps. 55:17; Isa. 24:14). The Lord tells the barren woman to cry aloud with joyful singing because she will soon cry aloud with paradoxical pain as she breaks forth into the joys of childbirth.
(Cyntia L. Hallen, Isaiah In The Book of Mormon, ed. Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch [Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1998], 315–16.)
The Hebrew name for the poetic form the Lord uses in 3 Nephi 22 is ?ir yedidot, a “song of loves” or wedding song. The text reads like an epithalamium, a wedding poem from classical Greece that celebrates the joy of a bride and her groom. Singing is a symbol of the vibrant love that is possible between a man, a woman, and their children when they follow the Lord’s way.
In Bible lands, childbirth is often associated with rejoicing, singing, or chanting poetry in the form of psalms. A woman sings when she first discovers that she will have a baby. Mary sang after Noah appeared as the angel Gabriel to announce that she would bear the Christ child: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46–47). A woman also sings when her baby is safely delivered, as Hannah did after the birth of Samuel: “My heart rejoiceth in the Lord … I rejoice in my salvation” (1 Sam. 2:1). Nursing professor Lynn Callister reports that even today an orthodox Jewish mother will recite the words of a psalm to give thanks for the birth of her firstborn child: “Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob” (Ps. 81:1). Singing is a token of the promise that the Lord’s covenant people will have children in their homes.
Paradoxically, Zion will cry aloud with pain as well as joy as she experiences the miracle and labor of bearing children, literally or figuratively. The cry of a woman enduring labor pains as she gives birth to a child mirrors the anguished prayers of Christ as he suffered agony to give new life to us through his atoning sacrifice (see Luke 22:44).
(Cynthia L. Hallen, “Redeeming the Desolate Woman,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, vol. 7, no. 1:46.)