a band of cloth or leather worn wrapped around the waist or hips: a waistcloth, belt, or sash.
TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong
This is the thing a person ties around the middle of the body. Its exact form shifts from place to place: a strip of linen worn against the skin, a leather belt cinched over rough clothing, or the woven sash of an officer. What holds all its uses together is the simple idea of something girded around the hips, which is why it comes from the ordinary word for "to gird."
The range runs from the intimate to the ceremonial:
In Jeremiah it is a linen waistcloth worn next to the body, and its clinging closeness becomes a picture of how Israel was meant to cling to God.
On Elijah it is a plain leather belt, the mark of a rugged prophet.
On a soldier it is the belt kept fastened for readiness, never loosened, so he can move and fight.
Because a person girds up before work or battle and ungirds to rest, the belt also carried the sense of strength and office: to have it bound on was to be equipped and in command. Isaiah takes that image further, calling righteousness and faithfulness the belt of the coming ruler, the very thing that holds him together and readies him. The near-synonym חֲגוֹר names the same kind of girding-band, and Greek later renders the idea with ζώνη, the belt worn by John the Baptist in the manner of Elijah.
Nuances
1aa waistcloth of linen, wound around the hips and worn close to the body.
Jer 13:1*Jer 13:2Jer 13:4Jer 13:6Jer 13:7 (2×)Jer 13:10Jer 13:11
1ba belt or girdle fastened around the waist to hold up one's clothing or gear, and by extension a mark of strength or office.
2Ki 1:8Job 12:18*Isa 5:27Ezk 23:15
1cfiguratively, a quality that girds and equips a person, worn like a belt.
the same Hebrew word can name a linen wrap worn against the skin, a closeness that plain "belt" loses.Jer 13:1
Both
both name a band fastened around the waist to gird a person's clothing or gear.2Ki 1:8Isa 5:27
Only belt
English "belt" calls to mind a narrow leather or fabric strap, often merely to hold up trousers, trivializing a garment that could also mark a man's strength or office.
the word also names an outer leather belt, as worn by Elijah, and a soldier's belt of readiness, uses that "loincloth" cannot carry.2Ki 1:8
Both
both name cloth wound around the hips and worn close to the body.Jer 13:1
Only loincloth
English "loincloth" pictures only a covering for the hips and private parts, hiding that the same word can be a belt of office or a mark of strength.
How ezor differs from similar Hebrew words
חֲגוֹרa belt or girding-band fastened over the clothes to tuck up a robe for work or battle; where this word can be a linen wrap worn against the skin, that one is the outer band cinched on to get ready to move.
This word names the innermost layer worn directly against bare skin, not a visible accessory. Jeremiah's acted-out prophecy turns on exactly that closeness, since God compares Israel's intended relationship to him to how snugly this waistcloth clings to the body, and in Job it appears as a captive's binding rather than fine attire, when defeated kings are stripped of authority and bound with it instead of ruling in it.Jer 13:11Job 12:18
It is the signature garment of two prophets acting out a message rather than simply getting dressed. A leather version identifies Elijah on sight, and a linen version is the whole point of Jeremiah's sign act, bought and worn, then buried in the ground and dug up ruined as a picture of Judah's corruption.2Ki 1:8Jer 13:1Jer 13:7
Both
Both can mark a fighting man's readiness for battle. Soldiers on the march keep this waistcloth so tightly girded that it never comes loose, while the set phrase for a man old enough to buckle on the other word's belt marks him as fit for war.Isa 5:272Ki 3:21
Both also turn up in an oracle where putting one on, or having it stripped away, pictures a reversal of fortune. Captured kings are bound with this waistcloth instead of ruling in comfort, and Zion's proud women lose their fine version of the other word for a rope instead.Job 12:18Isa 3:24
This word is the belt that actually holds a soldier's sword, and it doubles as a token of personal favor exchanged between men, never a garment of prophetic identity. Jonathan gives David his own belt along with his armor as a sign of loyalty, and it is the very belt Joab's sword hangs from when he kills Amasa.1Sa 18:42Sa 20:8
It also names an ordinary domestic or commercial item with no military or prophetic weight at all: a hurried covering improvised from leaves, and a manufactured belt that a skilled woman sews and sells for profit.Gen 3:7Pro 31:24
אַבְנֵטthe ornate woven sash of the priest and high official, a mark of sacred or royal office; this word is by contrast the plain everyday waistcloth or belt of ordinary people.
Is an ordinary garment worn next to the body on the loins, the everyday waistcloth a man ties on and can spoil, not a ceremonial dress piece.Jer 13:1Jer 13:11
Describes a rough working belt of common material, such as the leather one that identified Elijah.2Ki 1:8
Is used as a picture of readiness and strength: a warrior keeps it tight for action, righteousness is worn like it, and God loosening it strips a ruler of power.Isa 5:27Isa 11:5Job 12:18
Both
Both are cloth bands worn wrapped around the waist and are commonly rendered "girdle" in older English translations.Exo 28:39Jer 13:1
Belongs to the formal vestments of the priesthood, listed alongside the breastpiece, ephod, robe, and turban as one of the holy garments a priest must wear to serve.Exo 28:4Lev 8:7
Is an ornate, embroidered piece worked in blue, purple, and scarlet with fine twisted linen, a costly sash rather than plain cloth.Exo 28:39Exo 39:29
Marks the office its wearer holds: putting it on is part of ordaining a priest, and handing it over transfers a royal steward's authority to a successor.Exo 29:9Lev 8:13Isa 22:21
ezor in the other biblical languages
ζώνηGreek“belt/sash/girdle”the Greek word for a belt or girdle, worn by John the Baptist in the manner of Elijah and used for the belt of truth; it names the outer waistband but not this word's use for a linen wrap worn against the skin.
It is a cloth wrapped directly around the loins against the skin, so close to the body that a linen one clings to the person who wears it.Jer 13:1Jer 13:11
It readily becomes a picture of what girds a person for something: righteousness and faithfulness worn as the belt of the waist, or a belt kept tight for readiness.Isa 11:5Isa 5:27
Both
Both name the belt worn at the waist, and both describe the rough leather belt of a prophet: Elijah's, and John the Baptist's, who is deliberately pictured as a second Elijah.2Ki 1:8Mat 3:4
The belt doubled as a purse, since coins were tucked into it, so traveling disciples were told to carry no money in their belts.Mat 10:9Mrk 6:8
It can be a golden sash worn high across the chest as a mark of royal and priestly dignity, not merely fastened at the waist.Rev 1:13Rev 15:6
What scholars say about ezor
The standard lexicons (HALOT, BDB, DCH) take this noun from the verb meaning "to gird" and gloss it as a waistcloth, loincloth, or belt worn on the hips. Its referent shifts with context: a leather belt on Elijah (2 Kings 1:8), a warrior's belt of readiness that is never loosened (Isaiah 5:27), the Babylonian officers' sashes (Ezekiel 23:15), the belt bound on humbled kings (Job 12:18), and, figuratively, righteousness and faithfulness as the belt of the coming ruler (Isaiah 11:5). The most-discussed case is the linen waistcloth of Jeremiah 13: Holladay, McKane, and Lundbom weigh whether it is an undergarment worn against the body, which heightens the sign of Israel clinging to God, or an outer sash. The Septuagint and later Greek render the term with ζώνη, the same word used of John the Baptist's belt.
Sources
HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. אֵזוֹרlexicon
BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. אֵזוֹרlexicon
DCH (Clines, ed.), s.v. אֵזוֹרlexicon
William L. Holladay, Jeremiah 1, Hermeneia (1986)commentary
William McKane, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Jeremiah, Vol. 1, ICC (1986)commentary
Jack R. Lundbom, Jeremiah 1-20, Anchor Bible (1999)commentary