To Gird Your Loins

And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.
And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

-- I Kings 18: 45-46 (KJV)

Although "to gird your loins" sounds racy to the modern reader, all Elijah is doing is pulling in his pants. "Gird" -- actually "gird up" in the original -- means "tighten with a belt" or "put on a girdle." Elijah does not, as modern usage might suggest, fortify his thighs -- "loin" may rhyme with "groin," but this sense is relatively new.

Kind of brings you down, but that's what the Hebrew says -- or, in the words of the New English Bible, "he tucked up his robe." Equally disappointing is that Elijah does not "gird up his loins" to rush into battle. Rather, after slaughtering the false prophets of King Ahab's adopted god Baal, he simply wants to be the first to tell the town of Jezreel the news. So he pulls in his petticoats the better to outpace Ahab, which is no small feat since the king's got a chariot. Once Queen Jezebel hears Elijah's news, she vows to pay the prophet back in kind; this time he girds his loins to make a hasty exit out of Israel.

 
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Michael Macrone is Associate Site Producer of GraceCom and the author of nine books on language, literature, and ideas, including the best-selling Brush Up Your Shakespeare!