Topic
Thigh
24 passages cited, from 1 classic reference work.
These works date from 1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Genesis 24:1–67ISBE
And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: And I will make thee swear by…
- Genesis 24:2ISBE
And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
- Genesis 24:9ISBE
And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.
- Genesis 32:25ISBE
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
- Genesis 32:32ISBE
Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.
- Genesis 46:26ISBE
All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six;
- Genesis 47:29ISBE
And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:
- Exodus 1:5ISBE
And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.
- Exodus 29:22ISBE
Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is a ram of consecration:
- Exodus 32:27ISBE
And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
- Numbers 5:21ISBE
Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;
- Numbers 5:27ISBE
And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her…
Show 12 more
- Judges 3:16 ISBE
- Judges 3:21 ISBE
- Judges 8:30 ISBE
- 1 Samuel 9:24 ISBE
- Psalms 45:3 ISBE
- Isaiah 47:2 ISBE
- Jeremiah 31:19 ISBE
- Ezekiel 24:4 ISBE
- Daniel 2:32 ISBE
- Judith 9:2 ISBE
- Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 19:12 ISBE
- Revelation 19:16 ISBE
In the reference works
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 26 references
thi (yarekh; Aramaic yarekhah (Da 2:32); meros (Judith 9:2; Sirach 19:12; Re 19:16); as part of a sacrificial animal (Ex 29:22, etc.) shoq, the King James Version, the Revised Version margin "shoulder"; in addition the King James Version has "thigh" for shoq in Isa 47:2 (the Revised Version (British and American) "leg")): The portion of the leg from the knee to the hip, against which a weapon hangs when suspended from the waist (Ex 32:27; Jud 3:16,21; Ps 45:3, etc.). So the thigh of a rider on horseback would be covered by a loose girdle, on which his name might be embroidered (Re 19:16). The "hollow of the thigh" (Ge 32:25) is the hip-socket or the groin.
See also HIP.
The thighs were thought to play a part in procreation (Ge 46:26; Ex 1:5, English Versions of the Bible "loins"; Jud 8:30, English Versions of the Bible "body"; compare Nu 5:21 ff), so that an oath taken with the hand under the thigh (Ge 24:2,9; 47:29) was taken by the life-power (the rabbis interpreted "by the seal of circumcision"). It is perhaps significant that this oath in both Ge 24 and 47 is said to have been exacted by persons in danger of death. Doubtless this association of the thigh with life (aided perhaps by its excellence as food (1Sa 9:24; Eze 24:4)) determined its choice as a sacrificial potion (Ex 29:22, etc.; on the "heave thigh" see SACRIFICE). Consequently, it is natural to find the thigh classed as forbidden ("sacred") food among certain peoples, and, probably, this sacred character of the part is the real basis of Ge 32:32: "The children of Israel eat not the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day." The origin of the prohibition, however, was unknown to the writer of the verse, and he sought an explanation from a story in which special attention was called to the thigh. Nothing else is heard about this precept in the Old Testament, but it receives elaborate attention in the Mishna (Chullin vii), where, for instance, all food cooked with meat containing the sinew (nervus ischiadicus) is rendered unclean if the sinew imparts a flavor to it, but not otherwise. (For further details see the comms., especially Skinner. (ICC) and RS2, 380.) One of the proofs of guilt in the jealousy trial (Nu 5:27) was the falling-away of the "thigh" (a euphemism; see JEALOUSY). To smite upon the thigh was a token of contrition (Jer 31:19) or of terror (Ezr 21:12).
Burton Scott Easton
Texts: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.