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THIGH (Heb. yârçk, Gr. mçros).—The hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained as he wrestled at Peniel (Gen_32:25), and to this is attributed the Jewish custom (enjoined in the Mishna) of not eating ‘the sinew of the hip’ (Gen_32:32). On the thigh the sword was girded (Exo_32:27, Psa_45:3, Son_3:8); Ehud’s on the right thigh because he was left-handed (Jdg_3:16; Jdg_3:21). Under the jealousy ordeal the woman’s thigh falls away if she has been guilty of adultery (Num_5:21 ff.). To smite ‘hip and thigh’ (lit. ‘leg upon thigh’) is a phrase denoting utter discomfiture accompanied by great slaughter (Jdg_15:8). Its origin is unknown, and its meaning much disputed. Is Jer_31:19 and Eze_21:12 smiting upon one’s thigh is a gesture of sorrow or terror. In Heb. (cf. AVm [Note: Authorized Version margin.] ) of Gen_46:25, Exo_1:5, Jdg_8:30 a man’s children are described as coming out of his thigh. This explains the oath taken by placing the hand under the thigh (Gen_24:2; Gen_24:9; Gen_47:29), a special sacredness being ascribed to the organs of generation. In NT ‘thigh’ occurs only in Rev_19:16, where perhaps the meaning is that the name was written on that part of the garment which covered the thigh.
J. C. Lambert.