Jeremiah 30:6

Jer 30:6 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.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ask--Consult all the authorities, men or books, you can, you will not find an instance. Yet in that coming day men will be seen with their hands pressed on their loins, as women do to repress their pangs. God will drive men through pain to gestures more fitting a woman than a man (Jer 4:31; Jer 6:24). The metaphor is often used to express the previous pain followed by the sudden deliverance of Israel, as in the case of a woman in childbirth (Isa 66:7-9).

paleness--properly the color of herbs blasted and fading: the green paleness of one in jaundice: the sickly paleness of terror.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He then adds, and not of peace This is emphatically subjoined, that the Prophet might shake off from the people those foolish delusions with which they were imbued by the false prophets. He then says, that they in vain hoped for peace, for they could not flee from terror and fear. He enhances this fear by saying, Inquire and see whether a man is in labor? Some one renders this absurdly, “Whether a man begets?” by which mistake he has betrayed a defect of judgment as well as ignorance; he was indeed learned in Hebrew, but ignorant of Latin, and also void of judgment. For the Prophet here speaks of something monstrous; but it is natural for a man to beget. he asks here ironically, “Can a man be in labor?” because God would put all men in such pains and agonies, as though they were women travailing with child. As, then, women exert every nerve and writhe in anguish when bringing forth draws nigh, so also men, all the men, would have their hands laid on their loins, on account of their terror and dread. Then he says, and all faces are turned into paleness; that is, God would terrify them all.

We now understand the meaning of the Prophet; for as the Jews did not believe God’s judgment, it was necessary, as the Prophet does here, to storm their hardness. If he had used a common mode of speaking, they would not have been moved. Hence he had respect to their perverseness; and it was on this account that he was so vehement. Inquire, then, he says, and see whether a man is in labor? God would bring all the men to a condition not manly, such as that of a woman in labor, when in her last effort to bring forth, when her pain is the greatest and the most bitter. Men would then be driven into a state the most unbecoming, strange, and monstrous. It follows: —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

6. Men do not suffer the pangs of child-bearing. Why then do all shew signs of pain and terror? Cp. Isa_13:8.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child?.... Look into the histories of former times, inquire of those most versed in them, whether ever there was such a thing in the world as that a man should travail with child; ask one and, another you see in distress, whether that is their case or not, which looks so much like it; and since there never was such an instance, nor is it possible that there should:

wherefore do I see every man with his hands his loins, as a woman in travail; the usual posture of women in such a condition, trying hereby to abate their pain, and ease themselves. This metaphor is made use of, both to express the sharpness and shortness of this distress; as the pains of a woman in travail are very sharp, yet short, and, when over, quickly forgotten; and so it wilt be at this time; it will be a sharp trial of the church and people of God; but it will last but for a short time; and the joy and happy times that will follow will soon cause it to be forgotten:

and all faces are turned into paleness? at the departure of the blood, through fear and trembling. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it "the yellow jaundice"; their faces were of the colour of such persons that have that disease upon them; or, as others, the green sickness. Some render it, "the king's evil" (q).

(q) "in speciem morbi regii", Junius & Tremellius; "in morbum regium", Piscator.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Bear. Literally, "beet," generat. But it has here the former signification, (Haydock) pariat. (Vatable) --- Yellow. The Babylonians are in great anxiety. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The voice which I hear is not the voice of women, but of men, and those the strongest and stoutest men, yet it is a voice like the voice of women in travail, roaring out through their pains; and the posture I see the generality of men are in is like the posture of women in travail, who hold their hands upon their loins, hoping thereby to abate their pain. Was it ever heard that males had the pains that use to attend child-bearing women?

And all faces are turned into paleness; and all men’s faces look as if they had the yellow jaundice; or are of the colour of blasted corn, as the word signifieth, Deu 28:22.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. Every man with his hands on his loins — As if in extreme pain, like unto a woman in the pangs of childbirth.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whether a man doth travail with child. Great, indeed, must be the terror when no adequate figure suggests itself but that of a woman in her pangs. (comp. Jer_6:24 Jer_13:21 Jer_22:23 Isa_13:8) All faces are turned into paleness. So Joel (Joe_2:6) and Nahum, (Nah_2:10) "All faces withdraw their colour." For "paleness" the Septuagint has "jaundice a possible meaning of the Hebrew; comp. clwrov , "pale, bilious looking" in medical writings, but properly "greenish-yellow," like the Hebrew noun.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

travail

(See Scofield "Mic 5:1").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ask and see if a man bears a child

"You know that no man has ever given birth to a child"

Why do I see every young man with his hand on his loins like a woman bearing a child? Why have all their faces become pale?

A woman about to give birth is in great pain and unable to do anything. The young men are so frightened that their bodies hurt, and they are unable to fight. AT: "The young men are holding their bellies like a woman giving birth; they all look sick because they are so afraid." (See: Simile and Rhetorical Question)

for Jacob, but he will be rescued from it

The name Jacob is a metonym for the man's descendants. This can be translated in active form. AT: "for the descendants of Jacob, but I will rescue them from it" (See: Metonymy and Active or Passive)

translationWords

children

woe

Jacob

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

whether a male gives birth Whether it is customary for males to give birth, so that labor pains should seize them like a woman in confinement.

his loins like מָתְנָיו.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.