lame on the feet (Ge 32:31; Ps 38:17). To "halt between two opinions" (1Ki 18:21) is supposed by some to be an expression used in "allusion to birds, which hop from spray to spray, forwards and backwards." The LXX. render the expression "How long go ye lame on both knees?" The Hebrew verb rendered "halt" is used of the irregular dance ("leaped upon") around the altar (ver. 26). It indicates a lame, uncertain gait, going now in one direction, now in another, in the frenzy of wild leaping.

This Eng. word is used (1) literally, as a verb 'to be lame, to limp,' or as an adj. 'lame.' Cf. Tindale's tr of Mt 11:5 'The blynd se, the halt goo, the lepers are clensed.' Or (2) figuratively 'to stumble, fail,' as Jer 20:10 'All my familiars watched for my halting.' From this comes the meaning (3) 'to be undecided, waver,' 1Ki 18:21 'How long halt [lit. 'limp,' as on unequal legs] ye between two opinions?' The Revisers have introduced (4) the mod. meaning 'to stop,' Isa 10:32 'This very day shall he halt at Nob.'