Jeremiah 31:19. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh.
This was one method by which the Jews expressed deep sorrow in time of mourning. Ezekiel was commanded to act in a similar manner as a significant mode of expressing the sorrow that was to come on rebellious Israel. See Ezekiel 21:12. The Greeks and Persians had a similar custom, and it is practiced in some parts of the East at the present day.