Nehemiah 4:23 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Saving that every one put them off for washing. — This rendering is very improbable, as the words are simply: “every man his weapon water.” Some interpret that “each man’s weapon was his water”: evidently too subtle a turn of thought. It is best, on the whole, to supply the ellipsis: “every man went with his weapon to the water.”