And Joab said to Amasa, Are you in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him.
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
God Literally, "Hail, my brother. "(Haydock)
Kiss him. "In former times it was the custom, in Greece, for supplicants to touch the chin, (Pliny, xi. 45.) having the left hand upon the person's knees. (Homer, Iliad A.) The touched a woman's cheeks; (Euripides, Hecuba.) or, among the Hebrews, her chin, Canticle of Canticles ii. 6. The Turks and Arabs still kiss the beard, with the utmost reverence. (Thevenot xxii.; Darvieux, chap. vii.) (Calmet)
