Reference: Knee, Kneel
Hastings
The knees are often referred to in Scripture as the place where weakness of the body, from whatever cause, readily manifests itself: e.g. from terror (Job 4:4; Da 5:8), or fasting (Ps 109:24). The reference in De 28:35 seems to be to 'joint leprosy,' in which, after the toes and fingers, the joints of the larger limbs are attacked (Driver, Deut. in loc.). The laying of children on the knees of father or grandfather seems to have involved recognition of them as legitimate members of the family (Ge 30:8; 50:23). In many passages of Scripture kneeling is spoken of as the attitude assumed in prayer (1Ki 8:54; Ps 95:8; Da 6:10; Ac 20:36 etc.). To 'bow the knee' is equivalent to 'worship' (1Ki 19:18; Isa 45:23; Ro 14:11 etc.). To fall upon the knees before a superior is an act at once of reverence and of entreaty (2Ki 1:13; Mt 17:14; Lu 5:8 etc.). In the court of an Eastern judge the writer has often seen men prostrate themselves, and then make their plea, resting upon their knees.
W. Ewing.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Then Rachel said, "I have fought a desperate struggle with my sister, but I have won." So she named him Naphtali.
Joseph saw the descendants of Ephraim to the third generation. He also saw the children of Makir the son of Manasseh; they were given special inheritance rights by Joseph.
The Lord will afflict you in your knees and on your legs with painful, incurable boils -- from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
When Solomon finished presenting all these prayers and requests to the Lord, he got up from before the altar of the Lord where he had kneeled and spread out his hands toward the sky.
I still have left in Israel seven thousand followers who have not bowed their knees to Baal or kissed the images of him."
The king sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, "Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours.
Your words have supported those who stumbled, and you have strengthened the knees that gave way.
He says, "Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah, like they were that day at Massah in the wilderness,
I am so starved my knees shake; I have turned into skin and bones.
I solemnly make this oath -- what I say is true and reliable: 'Surely every knee will bow to me, every tongue will solemnly affirm;
So all the king's wise men came in, but they were unable to read the writing or to make known its interpretation to the king.
When Daniel realized that a written decree had been issued, he entered his home, where the windows in his upper room opened toward Jerusalem. Three times daily he was kneeling and offering prayers and thanks to his God just as he had been accustomed to do previously.
But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"
When he had said these things, he knelt down with them all and prayed.