Hebrew word · H4206
מֵ֫זַח
mezach
belt
Belt, girdle, waist-sash. Very rare: Ps 109:19 'a belt (mezaḥ) he always ties on', and possibly Isa 23:10, a disputed passage where it may mean 'restraint' or 'harbour'. The more common words for belt are ʾezor and ḥagorah.
Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
girdle
Also means: ma.zi.ach (מְזִיחַ "belt" H4206B)
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
- Range of meaning
Belt, girdle, waist-sash. Very rare: Ps 109:19 'a belt (mezaḥ) he always ties on', and possibly Isa 23:10, a disputed passage where it may mean 'restraint' or 'harbour'. The more common words for belt are ʾezor and ḥagorah.
- Against the English
KJV ('weakeneth the strength'), NIV, BSB and NLT ('disarms') give the meaning but lose the picture. WEB, ESV and NASB ('loosens the belt') keep it.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The idea behind it is common in the Hebrew Bible. 'Gird up your loins' means get ready for action or battle (Job 38:3; 40:7; 1 Kgs 18:46). Isa 5:27 says of an invading army 'not a belt is loosened'. In Isa 45:1 God says he will 'loosen the loins of kings' before Cyrus. Weapons hung from the belt (1 Sam 25:13; 2 Sam 20:8).
Where it appears
Job · 1
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Job 12:21 וּמְזִ֖יחַ and [the] belt of
He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.
Here: 'And the belt of': the sash or girdle worn around the waist. It held the robe up for action and carried a man's weapon. The word is rare (compare Ps 109:19). Here it stands for a man's readiness to fight and to act.
Psalms · 1
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Psalm 109:19 וּ֝לְמֵ֗זַח and to a waistband
May it be like a robe wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him.
Isaiah · 1
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Isaiah 23:10 מֵ֥זַח [is] a restraint
Cultivate your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.