What Does Isaiah 11:5 Mean in the King James?
And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
His rule is held together at the center by alignment and weight-bearing trust.
THE MEANING
Alignment and trust that can bear weight hold the ruler’s center together, like a belt around the body. What governs outwardly rests on inward steadiness.
THE ROOT
צֶדֶק
tzedek
GROWS FROM
צ־ד־ק
ṣ-d-q
To be right or just; alignment.
“righteousness” in this verse is tzedek. The Hebrew צֶדֶק (tzedek, alignment/rightness) carries the sense of a relation set right. Here, alignment is not an ornament of rule: it holds the ruler’s center together.
ALSO GROWS
tsaddiq: A just or aligned person.
צַדִּיק
It describes a person embodying the alignment that steadies the ruler here.
tsedaqah: Justice or righteousness expressed in action.
צְדָקָה
It shows alignment taking shape in the way someone acts toward others.
אֱמוּנָה
emunah
GROWS FROM
א־מ־ן
ʾ-m-n
To be firm, steady, or reliable.
“faithfulness” in this verse is emunah. אֱמוּנָה (emunah, trust or steadiness) carries the sense of something firm enough to lean your full weight on. Beside alignment, it makes the ruler’s center dependable, not merely well-intentioned.
ALSO GROWS
amen: Firmly; truly; so be it.
אָמֵן
The familiar affirmation carries the same sense of firmness and dependability.
ne'eman: Reliable or steadfast.
נֶאֱמָן
It describes the dependable quality that makes trust possible.
אֵזוֹר
ezor
GROWS FROM
א־ז־ר
ʾ-z-r
To gird or bind around.
The Hebrew אֵזוֹר (ezor, girdle or belt) is repeated around two words for the body’s center. That repetition pictures alignment and trust as the support that binds the ruler’s center together.
ALSO GROWS
ezor: A belt or girdle.
אֵזוֹר
The belt gives the verse its image of support wrapped around the center.
a'azerkha: I gird you (Isaiah 45:5).
אֲאַזֶּרְךָ
The verb form makes the image active: to gird is to bind support around someone.
THE PATTERN
Authority is held together by inner alignment and steadiness, pictured as something worn on the body.
For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;THE THREAD
For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.Isaiah 11:5 names צֶדֶק (tzedek, alignment/rightness); Isaiah 59:17 uses צְדָקָה (tsedaqah, righteousness), from the same root. The same inner rightness girds the ruler here and protects the body there.
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