Isaiah 11:5

Girdle - Belt.

Loins - The lower back; waist.

Reins - Innermost parts of man.

The girdle "The cincture" - All the ancient Versions, except that of Symmachus, have two different words for girdle in the two hemistichs. It is not probable that Isaiah would have repeated אזור azer, when a synonymous word so obvious as חגור chagor occurred. The tautology seems to have arisen from the mistake of some transcriber. The meaning of this verse is, that a zeal for justice and truth shall make him active and strong in executing the great work which he shall undertake. See note on Isaiah 5:27.

And righteousness shall be the gridle of his loins - The sense of this verse is plain. He will always exhibit himself as a just and faithful king. "The girdle of the loins" refers to the cincture, or band, with which the ancients girded themselves. A part of their dress consisted of an outward, loose, flowing robe. This robe it was necessary to gird up, or to confine close to the body in active labor, or in running; and the meaning of the figure used here is, probably, that the virtues of righteousness and justice would adhere to him as closely and inseparably as the garment does to the body to which it was bound. The figure of representing the virtues as clothing, or describing them as parts of dress with which we are invested, is common in the Scriptures:

I put on righteousness, and it clothes me;

My judgment was as a robe and a diadem.

11:5 The girdle - It shall adorn him, and be the glory of his government, as a girdle was used for an ornament, Isaiah 3:24 , and as an ensign of power, Job 12:18 , and it shall constantly cleave to him in all his administrations, as a girdle cleaveth to a man's loins.