Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
Ver. 6. Ask ye now, and see, &c.] Was it ever heard of in this world that a male did bear? The poets indeed fable that Minerva was born of Jupiter's brain:
“ Pictoribus atque poetis,
Quidlibet audendi fas est. ”
Wherefore do I see every man. ] Heb., Every strong or mighty man.
With their hands on their loins. ] And not on their weapons.
And all faces turned into paleness. ] Through extreme fear, the blood running to the heart, and the heart fallen into the heels. The Septuagint, for "paleness," have the yellow jaundice; the Vulgate, gold yellowness; Piscator, morbus regius; the royal sickness, the Hebrew properly implieth the colour of blasted corn. Deu 28:22 It importeth that the most stout-hearted warriors should be enervati et exangues, more parturientium, bloodless and spiritless, as travailing women.