to gird
a.zar describes fastening on clothing or readying oneself, often with strength for conflict or demanding speech.
The verb most often occurs where a person is equipped with strength or where strength is fastened on: the weak in 1 Samuel 2:4, the speaker for battle in 2 Samuel 22:40, and the LORD in Psalm 93:1. It also marks commands to ready oneself for a confrontation or task, and a smaller group of contexts concerns clothing or a belt at the loins.
Senses in use
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Being equipped with strength · dominant
In 1 Samuel 2:4, the Qal perfect stands in the clause about those who stumble, for whom the APB renders “gird themselves with strength.” In 2 Samuel 22:40, the Piel sequential imperfect occurs in the battle clause, rendered “you equipped me with strength for the battle”; Psalm 93:1 similarly places the Hithpael perfect in the statement that the LORD “has girded himself with strength.”
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Readying oneself for a task or threat · common
The repeated Hithpael imperatives in Isaiah 8:9 address peoples and distant lands before the repeated warning that they will be dismayed; the APB renders the command “gird yourselves.” In Jeremiah 1:17, the Qal imperfect precedes commands to arise and speak, while the Qal imperatives in Job 38:3 and Job 40:7 precede being questioned.
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Fastening clothing at the loins · occasional
In 2 Kings 1:8, the Qal passive participle describes a man with “a girdle of skin girded on his loins.” Job 30:18 uses a Qal imperfect in a clothing comparison, rendered “like the lip of my tunic he girds me.”
In the Anselm Paraphrase: The APB often uses “gird,” including “gird themselves,” “gird up your loins,” and “has girded himself with strength.” In battle and preparation contexts it also renders the surrounding clause with “equipped me with strength” or “arm yourselves”; these are verse-level paraphrase renderings rather than word-aligned equivalents.