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Arm-Hole

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(אִצִּיל יָד, atstsil' yad, joinat of the hand; Sept. ἀγκὼν χειρός ). "Woe to the women that sew pillows to all arm-holes" (Ezekiel 13:18), i.e. elbows, although the term has also been taken for the wrist, or for the knuckles of the hand. The true meaning is somewhat doubtful, for it evidently refers to some custom with which we are unacquainted. The women spoken of are no doubt the priestesses of Ashtaroth, and the object of the prophet is to denounce the arts they employed to allure God's chosen people to a participation in their idolatrous worship. Orientals, when they wish to be at their ease, recline on or against various kinds of rich pillows or cushions. The adulteress in the Proverbs (vii, 16) alludes to the costliness and richness of those that belonged to her divan or "bed" among the circumstances by which she sought to seduce "the young man void of under. standing;" it is therefore not unreasonable to suppose that something of the same kind may be here intended. (See PILLOW). The term also occurs in Jeremiah 38:12, in describing the release of the prophet from the dungeon of Malchiah.