moten · waist, loins

What it means

moten (מֹתֶן) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “waist, loins”.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. The middle of the body; "gird oneself" is to get ready.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Loins, waist: the part of the body where the belt is tied. Girding the loins is getting ready to run, travel or work; and the loins are also the seat of strength and of trembling.

• Girding the waist to set out Exodus 12:111 Kings 18:462 Kings 4:29
• “Gird up your loins”: the charge to the prophet Jeremiah 1:17Jeremiah 13:1
• What is worn at the waist: sackcloth, belt Genesis 37:342 Kings 1:8Isaiah 11:5
• The loins as strength; their breaking Deuteronomy 33:11Ezekiel 21:6Nahum 2:10
• Up to the waist Ezekiel 47:41 Kings 12:10

Historical and cultural background

The Passover was eaten with “your waists belted, your sandals on your feet, and your walking stick in your hand”, ready to leave (Exodus 12:11). Elijah is recognized by “a belt of leather tied around his waist” (2 Kings 1:8).

How we translate it

“Loins” 27 times and “waist” 16 (“waists” 3). In the narratives the text says “waist” (“your waists belted”, Exodus 12:11; “he girded his waist”, 1 Kings 18:46); in the prophets and in poetry it says “loins” (“gird up your loins”, Jeremiah 1:17).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• loins ×27
• waist ×16
• waists ×3
• hips ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×1
• Exodus×2
• Deuteronomy×1
• 2 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×5
• 2 Kings×3
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Nehemiah×1
• Job×2
• Psalms×2
• Proverbs×2
• Isaiah×4
• Jeremiah×6
• Ezekiel×12
• Daniel×1
• Amos×1
• Nahum×2

• Genesis 37:34

  Jacob tore his garments, put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

• Exodus 12:11

  This is how you shall eat it: your waists belted, your sandals on your feet, and your walking stick in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Passover of YHWH.

• Exodus 28:42

  Make for them linen undergarments to cover the flesh of their nakedness; from the hips to the thighs they shall reach.

• Deuteronomy 33:11

  Bless, YHWH, his strength, and accept the work of his hands; crush the loins of those who rise up against him and of those who hate him, so that they do not rise again.”

• 2 Samuel 20:8

  They were at the great stone that is in Gibeon, and Amasa came before them. Joab was girded with the garment he wore, and over it was a belt with a sword fastened on his waist in its sheath; and as he went out, it fell out.

• 1 Kings 2:5

  Moreover, you know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether, whom he killed, and he set the blood of war in time of peace and put the blood of war on his belt that was around his waist and on his sandal that were on his feet.

• 1 Kings 12:10

  The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made heavy our yoke, but you, lighten it from on us’; thus you shall speak to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than the waist of my father.

• 1 Kings 18:46

  The hand of YHWH was on Elijah; and he girded his waist and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

• 1 Kings 20:31

  His servants said to him, “Look, please, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are kings of loyal love. Let us put, please, sackcloth on our waists and ropes on our heads, and let us go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.”

• 1 Kings 20:32

  They girded sackcloth on their waists and ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please, let my soul live.’” He said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”

• 2 Kings 1:8

  They said to him, “A hairy man, with a belt of leather tied around his waist.” He said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

• 2 Kings 4:29

  He said to Gehazi, “Gird your waist, take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, do not bless him; and if anyone blesses you, do not answer him; and lay my staff on the face of the boy.”

• 2 Kings 9:1

  Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Gird your waist, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead.

• 2 Chronicles 10:10

  The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you shall say to the people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made heavy our yoke, but you, lighten it from on us’; thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than the waist of my father.

• Nehemiah 4:18

  And the builders, each had his sword girded at his waist, and they built; and the one who blew the horn was beside me.

• Job 12:18

  He loosens the restraint of kings, and binds a belt on their loins.

• Job 40:16

  Look, please, its strength is in its loins, and its vigor in the muscles of its belly.

• Psalms 66:11

  You brought us into the net; you laid a burden on our loins.

• Psalms 69:23

  Let their eyes be darkened so as not to see, and their loins make shake continually.

• Proverbs 30:31

  the one girded at the loins, or the male goat, and a king with his troop.

• Proverbs 31:17

  She girds her loins with strength, and strengthens her arms.

• Isaiah 11:5

  And righteousness will be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his hips.

• Isaiah 20:2

  at that time YHWH spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loosen the sackcloth from your loins, and take off your sandals from your feet.” And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

• Isaiah 21:3

  Therefore my loins are filled with trembling; pangs have seized me like the pangs of a woman giving birth; I am bent over at hearing, I am terrified at seeing.

• Isaiah 45:1

  Thus says YHWH to his anointed, to Cyrus, whom I have taken hold of by his right hand, to subdue before him nations, and the loins of kings I will loosen, to open before him doors, and gates will not be shut:

• Jeremiah 1:17

  But you, gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them.

• Jeremiah 13:1

  Thus YHWH said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your loins, but in water do not put it.”

• Jeremiah 13:2

  So I bought the belt according to the word of YHWH, and put it on my loins.

• Jeremiah 13:4

  “Take the belt that you bought, which is on your loins, and get up, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in the cleft of the rock.”

• Jeremiah 13:11

  For as the belt clings to the loins of a man, so I made cling to me all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah, declares YHWH, to be to me a people, and a name and praise and beauty; but they did not listen.

• Jeremiah 48:37

  For every head is baldness, and every beard shaved off; on all hands gashes, and on the loins sackcloth.

• Ezekiel 1:27

  And I saw something like the gleam of shining metal, like the appearance of fire enclosing it all around, from the appearance of his loins and upward; and from the appearance of his loins and downward I saw something like the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him.

• Ezekiel 8:2

  And I looked, and look, a likeness like the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his loins and downward, fire; and from his loins and upward, like the appearance of radiance, like the gleam of shining metal.

• Ezekiel 9:2

  And look, six men coming from the direction of the upper gate that faces north, each with his instrument for smashing in his hand; and one man in their midst clothed in linen, with a scribe's inkhorn at his waist; and they came in and stood beside the bronze altar.

• Ezekiel 9:3

  And the glory of the Elohim of Israel had gone up from upon the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the house; and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the scribe's inkhorn at his waist.

• Ezekiel 9:11

  And look, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn at his waist, brought back word, saying, “I have done according to all that you commanded me.”

• Ezekiel 21:6

  And you, son of man, sigh, with breaking of loins, and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.

• Ezekiel 23:15

  girded with belts on their loins, with dangling turbans on their heads, with the appearance of officers, all of them, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, of Chaldea, the land of their birth.

• Ezekiel 29:7

  When they grasped you by the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you were broken, and you made all their loins stagger.

• Ezekiel 44:18

  Linen headdresses shall be on their heads, and linen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with sweat.

And 7 more times.