Ezekiel 7:17

7:17 All of their hands will hang limp; their knees will be wet with urine. ¹ 

Ezekiel 30:17-18

30:17 The young men of On and of Pi-beseth ²  will die by the sword;

and the cities will go ³  into captivity.

30:18 In Tahpanhes the day will be dark ⁴ 

when I break the yoke of Egypt there.

Her confident pride will cease within her;

a cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into captivity.

Ezekiel 21:7

21:7 When they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you will reply, ‘Because of the report that has come. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand will be limp; everyone ⁵  will faint and every knee will be wet with urine.’ ⁶  Pay attention – it is coming and it will happen, declares the sovereign Lord.”

[7:17]  ¹ tn Heb “their knees will run with water.” The expression probably refers to urination caused by fright, which is how the LXX renders the phrase. More colloquial English would simply be “they will wet their pants,” but as D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:261, n. 98) notes, the men likely wore skirts which were short enough to expose urine on the knees.

[30:17]  ² sn On and Pi-beseth are generally identified with the Egyptian cities of Heliopolis and Bubastis.

[30:17]  ³ tn Heb “they will go.” The pronoun and verb are feminine plural, indicating that the cities just mentioned are the antecedent of the pronoun and the subject of the verb. The translation makes this clear by stating the subject as “the cities.”

[30:18]  ³ sn In Zeph 1:15 darkness is associated with the day of the Lord.

[21:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “every spirit will be dim.”

[21:7]  ⁵ sn This expression depicts in a very vivid way how they will be overcome with fear. See the note on the same phrase in 7:17.