Isaiah 11:5

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

integrity will be like a belt around his hips. ¹ 

Isaiah 45:1

45:1 This is what the Lord says to his chosen ²  one,

to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold ³ 

in order to subdue nations before him,

and disarm kings, ⁴ 

to open doors before him,

so gates remain unclosed:

Isaiah 45:5

45:5 I am the Lord, I have no peer, ⁵ 

there is no God but me.

I arm you for battle, ⁶  even though you do not recognize ⁷  me.

Isaiah 45:1

45:1 This is what the Lord says to his chosen ⁸  one,

to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold ⁹ 

in order to subdue nations before him,

and disarm kings, ¹⁰ 

to open doors before him,

so gates remain unclosed:

Isaiah 2:5

2:5 O descendants ¹¹  of Jacob,

come, let us walk in the Lord’s guiding light. ¹² 

Job 12:18

12:18 He loosens ¹³  the bonds ¹⁴  of kings

and binds a loincloth ¹⁵  around their waist.

Job 12:21

12:21 He pours contempt on noblemen

and disarms ¹⁶  the powerful. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 18:32

18:32 The one true God ¹⁸  gives ¹⁹  me strength; ²⁰ 

he removes ²¹  the obstacles in my way. ²² 

Psalms 93:1

Psalm 93 ²³ 

93:1 The Lord reigns!

He is robed in majesty,

the Lord is robed,

he wears strength around his waist. ²⁴ 

Indeed, the world is established, it cannot be moved.

Daniel 5:6

5:6 Then all the color drained from the king’s face ²⁵  and he became alarmed. ²⁶  The joints of his hips gave way, ²⁷  and his knees began knocking together.

Ephesians 6:13-14

6:13 For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground ²⁸  on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. 6:14 Stand firm therefore, by fastening ²⁹  the belt of truth around your waist, ³⁰  by putting on the breastplate of righteousness,

[11:5]  ¹ 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.

[45:1]  ² tn Heb “anointed” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV “his appointed king.”

[45:1]  ³ sn The “right hand” is a symbol of activity and strength; the Lord directs Cyrus’ activities and assures his success.

[45:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the belts of kings I will loosen”; NRSV “strip kings of their robes”; NIV “strip kings of their armor.”

[45:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and there is none besides.” On the use of עוֹד (’od) here, see BDB 729 s.v. 1.c.

[45:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “gird you” (so NASB) or “strengthen you” (so NIV).

[45:5]  ⁷ tn Or “know” (NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT); NIV “have not acknowledged.”

[45:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “anointed” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV “his appointed king.”

[45:1]  ⁹ sn The “right hand” is a symbol of activity and strength; the Lord directs Cyrus’ activities and assures his success.

[45:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the belts of kings I will loosen”; NRSV “strip kings of their robes”; NIV “strip kings of their armor.”

[2:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house,” referring to the family line or descendants (likewise in v. 6).

[2:5]  ¹² tn Heb “let’s walk in the light of the Lord.” In this context, which speaks of the Lord’s instruction and commands, the “light of the Lord” refers to his moral standards by which he seeks to guide his people. One could paraphrase, “let’s obey the Lord’s commands.”

[12:18]  ¹³ tn The verb may be classified as a gnomic perfect, or possibly a potential perfect – “he can loosen.” The Piel means “to untie; to unbind” (Job 30:11; 38:31; 39:5).

[12:18]  ¹⁴ tc There is a potential textual difficulty here. The MT has מוּסַר (musar, “discipline”), which might have replaced מוֹסֵר (moser, “bond, chain”) from אָסַר (’asar, “to bind”). Or מוּסַר might be an unusual form of אָסַר (an option noted in HALOT 557 s.v. *מוֹסֵר). The line is saying that if the kings are bound, God can set them free, and in the second half, if they are free, he can bind them. Others take the view that this word “bond” refers to the power kings have over others, meaning that God can reduce kings to slavery.

[12:18]  ¹⁵ tn Some commentators want to change אֵזוֹר (’ezor, “girdle”) to אֵסוּר (’esur, “bond”) because binding the loins with a girdle was an expression for strength. But H. H. Rowley notes that binding the king’s loins this way would mean so that he would do servitude, menial tasks. Such a reference would certainly indicate troubled times.

[12:21]  ¹⁶ tn The expression in Hebrew uses מְזִיחַ (mÿziakh, “belt”) and the Piel verb רִפָּה (rippah, “to loosen”) so that “to loosen the belt of the mighty” would indicate “to disarm/incapacitate the mighty.” Others have opted to change the text: P. Joüon emends to read “forehead” – “he humbles the brow of the mighty.”

[12:21]  ¹⁷ tn The word אָפַק (’afaq, “to be strong”) is well-attested, and the form אָפִיק (’afiq) is a normal adjective formation. So a translation like “mighty” (KJV, NIV) or “powerful” is acceptable, and further emendations are unnecessary.

[18:32]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the God.” The prefixed article emphasizes the Lord’s distinctiveness as the one true God (cf. Deut 33:26). See v. 30.

[18:32]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “is the one who clothes.” For similar language see 1 Sam 2:4; Pss 65:6; 93:1. The psalmist employs a generalizing hymnic style in vv. 32-34; he uses participles in vv. 32a, 33a, and 34a to describe what God characteristically does on his behalf.

[18:32]  ²⁰ tn 2 Sam 22:33 reads, “the God is my strong refuge.”

[18:32]  ²¹ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries along the generalizing force of the preceding participle.

[18:32]  ²² tn Heb “he made my path smooth.” The Hebrew term תָּמִים (tamim, “smooth”) usually carries a moral or ethical connotation, “blameless, innocent.” However, in Ps 18:33 it refers to a pathway free of obstacles. The reality underlying the metaphor is the psalmist’s ability to charge into battle without tripping (see vv. 33, 36).

[93:1]  ²³ sn Psalm 93. The psalmist affirms that the Lord is the king of the universe who preserves order and suppresses the destructive forces in the world.

[93:1]  ²⁴ sn Strength is compared here to a belt that one wears for support. The Lord’s power undergirds his rule.

[5:6]  ²⁵ tn Aram “[the king’s] brightness changed for him.”

[5:6]  ²⁶ tn Aram “his thoughts were alarming him.”

[5:6]  ²⁷ tn Aram “his loins went slack.”

[6:13]  ²⁸ tn The term ἀνθίστημι (anqisthmi) carries the idea of resisting or opposing something or someone (BDAG 80 s.v.). In Eph 6:13, when used in combination with στῆναι (sthnai; cf. also στῆτε [sthte] in v. 14) and in a context of battle imagery, it seems to have the idea of resisting, standing firm, and being able to stand your ground.

[6:14]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ 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.