"... A second example of Luke’s reliance on the specific nuances of the LXX is not a direct citation but an allusion. In Peter’s speech at Pentecost (2:14-36) ... Peter says, “Him God has raised! He has loosed the pangs of death, because he could not be held by it” (Acts 2:24). However, accustomed we may have become to the phrase “pangs of death,” it is nevertheless odd, especially when found as the object of the verb “to loose”. Why is it odd? Because the Greek term “pangs” refers particularly to the agony or throes of birth, thus, “birth pangs.” How does it come to be connected to the experience of death? ... the Hebrew verb habal (to bind or pledge) has two noun forms, each pointed differently. Pointed as hebel, it means “cord / rope / line,” and this is the meaning that makes the most sense of 2 Samuel 22:6, “the cords of death have encircled me,” and of Psalm 18:5 and 6, “the cords of death encompassed me…the cords of Sheol entangled me.” Pointed as habel, however, the Hebrew also has the sense of pain or travail, such as is experienced at birth (e.g., Job 39:3; Isaiah 66:7) ..."