1 Kings 18:46

18:46 Now the Lord energized Elijah with power; ¹  he tucked his robe into his belt ²  and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

Proverbs 31:17

31:17 She begins ³  her work vigorously,

and she strengthens ⁴  her arms.

Isaiah 5:27

5:27 None tire or stumble,

they don’t stop to nap or sleep.

They don’t loosen their belts,

or unstrap their sandals to rest. ⁵ 

Isaiah 11:5

11:5 Justice will be like a belt around his waist,

integrity will be like a belt around his hips. ⁶ 

Ephesians 6:14

6:14 Stand firm therefore, by fastening ⁷  the belt of truth around your waist, ⁸  by putting on the breastplate of righteousness,

Ephesians 6:1

6:1 Children, ⁹  obey your parents in the Lord ¹⁰  for this is right.

Ephesians 1:13

1:13 And when ¹¹  you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) – when you believed in Christ ¹²  – you were marked with the seal ¹³  of the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ 

[18:46]  ¹ tn Heb “and the hand of the Lord was on Elijah.”

[18:46]  ² tn Heb “and girded up his loins.” The idea is that of gathering up the robes and tucking them into the sash or belt so that they do not get in the way of the legs when running (or working or fighting).

[31:17]  ³ tn The first word of the eighth line begins with ח (khet), the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:17]  ⁴ sn The expression “she makes her arm strong” parallels the first half of the verse and indicates that she gets down to her work with vigor and strength. There may be some indication here of “rolling up the sleeves” to ready the arms for the task, but that is not clear.

[5:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the belt on his waist is not opened, and the thong of his sandals is not torn in two.”

[11:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “Justice will be the belt [or “undergarment”] on his waist, integrity the belt [or “undergarment”] on his hips.” The point of the metaphor is uncertain. If a belt worn outside the robe is in view, then the point might be that justice/integrity will be readily visible or that these qualities will give support to his rule. If an undergarment is in view, then the idea might be that these characteristics support his rule or that they are basic to everything else.

[6:14]  ⁷ sn The four participles fastening… putting on…fitting…taking up… indicate the means by which believers can take their stand against the devil and his schemes. The imperative take in v. 17 communicates another means by which to accomplish the standing, i.e., by the word of God.

[6:14]  ⁸ tn Grk “girding your waist with truth.” In this entire section the author is painting a metaphor for his readers based on the attire of a Roman soldier prepared for battle and its similarity to the Christian prepared to do battle against spiritually evil forces. Behind the expression “with truth” is probably the genitive idea “belt of truth.” Since this is an appositional genitive (i.e., belt which is truth), the author simply left unsaid the idea of the belt and mentioned only his real focus, namely, the truth. (The analogy would have been completely understandable to his 1st century readers.) The idea of the belt is supplied in the translation to clarify the sense in English.

[6:1]  ⁹ tn The use of the article τά (ta) with τέκνα (tekna) functions in a generic way to distinguish this group from husbands, wives, fathers and slaves and is left, therefore, untranslated. The generic article is used with γύναῖκες (gunaikes) in 5:22, ἄνδρες (andres) in 5:25, δοῦλοι (douloi) in 6:5, and κύριοι (kurioi) in 6:9.

[6:1]  ¹⁰ tc B D* F G as well as a few versional and patristic representatives lack “in the Lord” (ἐν κυρίῳ, en kuriw), while the phrase is well represented in Ì⁴⁶ א A D¹ I^vid Ψ 0278 0285 33 1739 1881 Ï sy co. Scribes may have thought that the phrase could be regarded a qualifier on the kind of parents a child should obey (viz., only Christian parents), and would thus be tempted to delete the phrase to counter such an interpretation. It is unlikely that the phrase would have been added, since the form used to express such sentiment in this Haustafel is ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ/Χριστῷ (Jw" tw kuriw/Cristw, “as to the Lord/Christ”; see 5:22; 6:5). Even though the witnesses for the omission are impressive, it is more likely that the phrase was deleted than added by scribal activity.

[1:13]  ¹¹ tn Grk “in whom you also, when…” (continuing the sentence from v. 12).

[1:13]  ¹² tn Grk “in whom also having believed.” The relative pronoun “whom” has been replaced in the translation with its antecedent (“Christ”) to improve the clarity.

[1:13]  ¹³ tn Or “you were sealed.”

[1:13]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the Holy Spirit of promise.” Here ἐπαγγελίας (epangelias, “of promise”) has been translated as an attributive genitive.