Reference: GIRD, GIRDLE
American
The Orientals commonly dress in loose robes, flowing down around the feet; so that when they wish to run, or fight, or apply themselves to any business, they are obliged to bind their garments close around them with a sash or girdle. Hence, "to have the loins girded," is to be prepared for action or service, 2Ki 4:29; Ac 12:8; to be waiting for the call or coming of one's master or Lord, Lu 12:35. A tightened girdle was also thought to increase the power of endurance, and the simile is used in exhortations to Christian courage and fortitude, Job 38:3; Jer 1:17; Eph 6:14; 1Pe 1:13. To have the girdle loosed, is to be unnerved and unprepared for action, Isa 5:27. Girdles of leather were worn by the common people; and also by prophets, 2Ki 1:8; Mt 3:4. They were likewise made of cotton or linen, Jer 13:1; also of silk, sometimes embroidered. They were often wide and long; and were folded lengthwise, and passed several times around the body. The girdle, moreover, answered the purpose of a purse or pouch, to carry money and other things; see Mt 10:9; Mr 6:8, where the word purse in the English is put for girdle according to the original Greek. The Arabs and other Orientals wear girdles in the same manner at the present day; they also carry a knife or dagger stuck in them; as was also the custom of the Hebrews, 1Sa 25:13; 2Sa 20:8. Clerks carried their inkhorns, carpenters their rules, etc., in the same way, Eze 9:2. See cuts in GARMENTS.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Then said David unto his men - Gird on you every man his sword. And they girded on them, every man his sword, and, David also, girded on his sword, - and there went up after David - about four hundred men, and, two hundred, abode by the stores.
And they said unto him - A hairy man, with a leathern girdle girt about his loins. And he said - Elijah the Tishbite, it was.
And he said to Gehazi - Gird thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go thy way, if thou meet with any man, thou must not bless him, and, if any man bless thee, thou must not respond to him, - then shalt thou lay my staff upon the face of the boy.
Gird, I pray thee - like a strong man - thy loins, that I may ask thee, and inform thou me:
None shall be weary, and none shall stumble in his midst, He shall neither slumber nor sleep, - Nor shall be loosened, the girdle of his loins, Nor snapped, the thong of his sandals:
Thou, therefore, shalt gird thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them, all that, I, command thee, - be not dismayed because of them, lest I dismay thee before their face.
Thus, said Yahweh unto me, - Go and buy for thyself a linen girdle, and put upon thy loins, - but in water, shalt thou not place it.
And lo! six men coming in out of the way of the upper gate which looketh toward the north even every man with his destructive weapon in his hand, and one man in their midst clothed with linen, having a scribes ink holder by his side, - so they came in and stood beside the altar of bronze.
But John, himself, had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, - while, his food, was locusts and wild honey.
Ye may procure - neither gold, nor silver, nor copper, for your belts, -
and charged them that they should take, nothing, for a journey, save a staff only, - no bread, no satchel, no copper, for the belt;
Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning,
And the messenger said unto him - Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And he did so. And he saith unto him - Throw around thee thy mantle, and be following me.
Stand therefore, - having girded your loins with truth, and put on the breastplate of righteousness,