Yechezkel 7:17

17 All hands shall go limp, and all birkayim (knees) shall be weak as mayim.

Yechezkel 7:17 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 7:17

All hands shall be feeble
No strength in them, to lay hold on weapons of war to defend themselves, or fight the enemy; no heart nor courage in them, to go forth and meet him; and even afraid to lift up their voice in mourning, lest they should be heard, and pursued, and taken: and all knees shall be weak [as] water;
tremble and beat one against another, for fear of the enemy; or,

``shall flow with water,''

as the Targum; either with sweat or urine, which are sometimes both caused by fear.

Yechezkel 7:17 In-Context

15 The cherev is outside, and the dever and the ra’av (famine) inside; he that is in the sadeh shall die with the cherev; and he that is in the Ir, ra’av (famine) and dever shall devour him.

16 But they that survive of them shall escape, and shall be on the harim like doves of the ge’ayot (valleys), all of them moaning, every one for his avon.

17 All hands shall go limp, and all birkayim (knees) shall be weak as mayim.

18 They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and terror shall cover them; and bushah (shame) shall be upon all faces, and shaved scalps [the sign of mourning] upon all their heads.

19 They shall cast their kesef in the streets, and their zahav shall be like niddah; their kesef and their zahav shall not be able to save them in the Yom Evrat Hashem (Day of the Wrath of Hashem); they shall not satisfy their nefashot, neither fill their stomachs; for it has become the stumbling block of their avon.