כֶּ֫סֶל

From the study of Proverbs 3:26

Range of meaning

The word has three uses, all related:

1. Loins, flanks: the muscular area of the lower back and sides, near the kidneys. In the sacrificial laws the fat "on the kesalim" is burned (Lev 3:4, 10, 15; 7:4). It is also where a man grows fat (Job 15:27) and where pain is felt (Ps 38:7).
2. Confidence, the thing relied on: "If I have made gold my kesel" (Job 31:24). "That they should set their kesel in God" (Ps 78:7). Also Job 8:14, and the related feminine form in Job 4:6: "Is not your fear of God your confidence?"
3. Folly, stupid self-assurance: Eccl 7:25 and Ps 49:13. This is related to kesil, "fool", the person whose confidence is misplaced.

The idea that links them seems to be strength or heaviness in the loins, then what you put your weight on, then (in the bad sense) foolish overconfidence. The major Hebrew dictionaries (BDB, HALOT) list the bodily sense and the "confidence" sense separately.

Against the English

KJV, ESV, NASB, BSB and WEB have "confidence". NIV has "at your side". YLT has "at thy side". NLT has "your security". "Confidence" is a good translation if it means the thing you rely on. It loses the physical picture of the flank. "At your side" keeps the physical picture but loses the idea of reliance.

How it drifted

In modern English "confidence" usually means a feeling inside a person: self-assurance or poise. The Hebrew names something outside yourself that you trust and lean on: gold, God, your own piety. It does not name a feeling.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hebrew Bible: Lev 3–4, 7; Job 8:14; 15:27; 31:24; Ps 38:7; 49:13; 78:7; Eccl 7:25. The Greek Septuagint rewords this line as "the Lord will be over all your ways", so it does not translate kesel directly. Jerome's Latin Vulgate reads in latere tuo, "at your side", which is the physical sense.

From the study of Leviticus 3:15

Range of meaning

(1) Loins or flanks: the lumbar muscles on either side of the spine (Lev 3:4, 10, 15; 4:9; 7:4; Ps 38:7, 'my loins are filled with burning'; Job 15:27). (2) A separate sense, 'confidence, trust' (Job 8:14; Ps 78:7; Prov 3:26), and (3) 'folly' (Eccl 7:25). Senses (2) and (3) are probably connected to the idea of firmness, or perhaps of fatness and dullness, but the link is uncertain.

Against the English

The BSB, WEB and most modern versions say 'loins'. The KJV and YLT say 'flanks'. To most modern readers 'loins' means the genitals ('fruit of his loins'). Here the word means the lower back, and 'flanks' is clearer.

How it drifted

Older English 'loins' meant the part of the body between ribs and hips, still used in butchery ('loin of pork'). Its everyday use has narrowed toward the groin and sexual meaning.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint uses mēria ('thigh pieces'), a looser rendering. The anatomy is clear from context: kidney suet sits against the lumbar muscles.

From the study of Psalm 78:7

Range of meaning

A word with an unusual spread of meanings. (1) Body: the loins or flank, the muscular area around the kidneys (Lev 3:4, 10, 15, where the 'fat on the kesalim' is burned on the altar; Job 15:27). (2) Confidence, reliance: what a person leans on (Job 8:14; 31:24; Prov 3:26; here). (3) Misplaced confidence, folly: stupid self-assurance (Ps 49:13 [Heb 14]; Eccl 7:25, where the related noun kesilut is 'folly'). The related word kesil is the standard Proverbs word for a 'fool'. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) either list separate entries or trace all three senses back to one root.

Against the English

BSB, NASB and YLT have 'confidence'. NIV has 'trust'. KJV, WEB and ESV have 'hope', following the Greek and Latin translations. 'Confidence' and 'trust' are closer to the Hebrew. 'Hope' brings in a future-looking, sometimes uncertain sense that kesel itself does not carry.

How it drifted

The KJV's 'hope' goes back to the Septuagint's elpis and the Vulgate's spes, not to the Hebrew directly. Over time, English 'hope' has weakened toward 'wishing something might happen' ('I hope it doesn't rain').

Used elsewhere in the period

The closest parallel is Job 31:24: 'If I have made (samti, the same verb sim) gold my kesel…'. It is the same idiom, a person 'placing' their reliance on something, and there the wrong object is wealth. Proverbs 3:26 says 'YHWH will be your kesel', so the LORD himself is your security. In Job 8:14, the godless man's kesel is 'cut off', like a spider's web. The Septuagint renders it elpis ('hope, expectation') here and in Job 31:24.