Hebrew word · H2504

חָלָץ

chalatzeikha

loin

Always dual (a pair): the hips or loins, meaning the waist, lower back and pelvic region. This was where a belt was cinched for action ('gird the loins') and was seen as the seat of physical strength and of offspring (Gen 35:11; 1 Kgs 8:19, 'from your loins').

Appears 10 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) loins

1a) as seat of virility

1b) as girded

1c) as seat of pain (woman's travail)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Jeremiah 30:6

Range of meaning

Always dual (a pair): the hips or loins, meaning the waist, lower back and pelvic region. This was where a belt was cinched for action ('gird the loins') and was seen as the seat of physical strength and of offspring (Gen 35:11; 1 Kgs 8:19, 'from your loins').

Against the English

KJV/NASB/YLT say 'loins', BSB/ESV/NIV 'stomach', WEB 'waist'. 'Loins' is accurate but now sounds sexual or archaic to many readers. 'Stomach' gets the gesture right but loses the link to strength and girding.

How it drifted

In modern English 'loins' survives mostly as a sexual euphemism, and 'gird up your loins' as a quaint idiom. The Hebrew is anatomical and military: the hip and waist area where strength is braced.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 21:3 ('my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me like the pangs of a woman giving birth'). Job 38:3; 40:7 (gird the loins 'like a man'). Isa 11:5 (righteousness as the belt of his loins). Nah 2:10 pairs anguish in all loins with changed faces, much as here.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 35:11 מֵחֲלָצֶ֥יךָ from loins your

    And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you.

    Here: A dual noun ('both loins'): the hips and waist, where a belt is tied and where a man's begetting strength was thought to sit. 'From your loins' means 'from your own body', your physical descendants.

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 8:19 מֵחֲלָצֶ֔יךָ from loins your

    Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 6:9 מֵֽחֲלָצֶ֔יךָ from loins your

    Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’

Job · 3

  1. Job 31:20 חֲלָצָ֑יו loins his

    if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,

  2. Job 38:3 חֲלָצֶ֑יךָ loins your

    Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.

  3. Job 40:7 חֲלָצֶ֑יךָ loins your

    “Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.

Isaiah · 3

  1. Isaiah 5:27 חֲלָצָ֔יו loins its

    None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken.

  2. Isaiah 11:5 חֲלָצָֽיו׃ loins his

    Righteousness will be the belt around His hips, and faithfulness the sash around His waist.

    Here: A second word for loins or waist, which is normal variation in Hebrew poetry. It belongs to the same word family as the verb ḥālaṣ, used for men 'equipped' or 'armed' for battle, so it may carry a hint of readiness for action. It does not mean kidneys or 'reins.'

  3. Isaiah 32:11 חֲלָצָֽיִם׃ loins

    Shudder, you ladies of leisure; tremble, you daughters of complacency. Strip yourselves bare and put sackcloth around your waists.

    Here: A word with a 'pair' ending, meaning the two hips or the waist, where a belt or loincloth sits. With the upper body bared, the women would be ready to beat their breasts in lament (verse 12).

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 30:6 חֲלָצָיו֙ loins his

    Ask now, and see: Can a male give birth? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor and every face turned pale?

    Here: The hips, lower back and waist, the place where a belt or sword was girded and where strength was felt to sit. Clutching it is the gesture of someone in labor pains.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.