Dec
9
A Theology of Underpants
I was sitting in Mass a few weeks ago when the book of Isaiah was one of the readings, which included the following;
“Integrity is the loincloth round his waist, faithfulness the belt about his hips.” (Is 11:4) It occurred to me that I hadn’t heard the word ‘loincloth’ for quite a while. It struck me that this might be yet another example of modern translations tending to gloss over anything we might find mildly embarrassing in the text, by changing the translation.
Even the Douay-Rheims and King James used “girdle of his loins” and the NAB reads “the belt about his loins”. NIV, NLT, ESV, NET all tone this down to “the belt” around his “waist”.
“Integrity is the loincloth round his waist, faithfulness the belt about his hips.” (Is 11:4) It occurred to me that I hadn’t heard the word ‘loincloth’ for quite a while. It struck me that this might be yet another example of modern translations tending to gloss over anything we might find mildly embarrassing in the text, by changing the translation.
Even the Douay-Rheims and King James used “girdle of his loins” and the NAB reads “the belt about his loins”. NIV, NLT, ESV, NET all tone this down to “the belt” around his “waist”.
