Kidneys

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Kidneys

1. Literal . (1) The choice portions of animals sacrificed to J″ [Note: Jahweh.] included the kidneys (  Exodus 29:13;   Exodus 29:22 ,   Leviticus 3:4;   Leviticus 3:10;   Leviticus 3:15;   Leviticus 4:9;   Leviticus 7:4;   Leviticus 8:16;   Leviticus 8:25;   Leviticus 9:10;   Leviticus 9:19; cf.   Isaiah 34:6 ). The term is even transferred (if the text is correct) to choice wheat (  Deuteronomy 32:14 ). (2) Limited to poetry is the use of this term in regard to human beings, and the rendering is always ‘reins’ (see below). They are ‘possessed’ (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘formed’) by J″ [Note: Jahweh.] (  Psalms 139:13 ), and are, metaphorically, wounded by J″ [Note: Jahweh.] ’s arrows (  Job 16:13; cf.   Job 19:27 ,   Lamentations 3:13 ). (3) AVm [Note: Authorized Version margin.] of   Leviticus 15:2;   Leviticus 22:4 is incorrect; there is no mention of reins; and in   Isaiah 11:5 the “word so rendered means ‘loins.’

2. Figurative . Here the EV [Note: English Version.] rendering is always ‘ reins ’ (Lat. renes , pl.; the Gr. equivalent being nephroi , whence ‘nephritis,’ etc.). The avoidance of the word ‘kidneys’ is desirable, because we do not regard them as the seat of emotion. But the Biblical writers did so regard them. It was as natural for them to say ‘This gladdens my reins’ as it is natural and incorrect for us to say ‘This gladdens my heart.’ And, in fact, in the passages now cited the terms ‘reins’ and ‘heart’ are often parallel:   Psalms 7:9;   Psalms 16:7;   Psalms 26:2;   Psalms 73:21 ,   Proverbs 23:16 ,   Jeremiah 11:20;   Jeremiah 12:2;   Jeremiah 17:10;   Jeremiah 20:12 , Wis 1:6 , 1Ma 2:24 ,   Revelation 2:23 .

H. F. B. Compston.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

These, 'with the fat thereof,' were often burned on the altar in the sacrifices.  Leviticus 3:4-15;  Leviticus 4:9;  Leviticus 7:4 , etc. The same word, Kelayoth is translated 'reins,' (which signifies 'kidneys') when used symbolically of the inward feelings and affections.

Webster's Dictionary

(pl.) of Kidney

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

kid´niz (always in the plural: כּליות , kelāyōth  ; νεφροί , nephroı́  ; Latin renes , whence the English "reins"): "Reins" and "kidneys" are synonyms, but the King James Version undertook a distinction by using the former word in the figurative, the latter in the literal passages. the English Revised Version has followed the King James Version exactly, but the American Standard Revised Version has retained "reins" only in   Job 16:13;  Lamentations 3:13;  Revelation 2:23 , elsewhere substituting "heart," except in  Psalm 139:13 , where "inward parts" is used. the King James Version and the English Revised Version also have "reins" for חלצים , ḥălācāyim , in  Isaiah 11:5 (the American Standard Revised Version "loins"). The physiological function of the kidneys is not referred to in the Bible, but has been introduced (quite wrongly) by the King James Version margin to   Leviticus 15:2;  Leviticus 22:4 .

(1) The kidneys owe their importance in the Bible partly to the fact that they are imbedded in fat, and fat of such purity that fat of the kidneys was a proverbial term for surpassing excellence ( Deuteronomy 32:14 margin). For the visceral fat was the part of the animal best adapted for sacrificial burning, and hence, came to be deemed peculiarly sacred (  Leviticus 7:22-25;  1 Samuel 2:16 ). Accordingly, the kidneys with the fat surrounding them were burned in every sacrifice in which the entire animal was not consumed, whether in peace ( Leviticus 3:4 ,  Leviticus 3:10 ,  Leviticus 3:15;  Leviticus 9:19 ), sin ( Exodus 29:13;  Leviticus 4:9;  Leviticus 8:16;  Leviticus 9:10 ), or trespass, ( Leviticus 7:4 ) offerings; compare the "ram of consecration" ( Exodus 29:22;  Leviticus 8:25 ). So in  Isaiah 34:6 , "fat of the kidneys of rams" is chosen as a typical sacrificial term to parallel "blood of lambs and goats." (2) The position of the kidneys in the body makes them particularly inaccessible, and in cutting up an animal they are the last organs to be reached. Consequently, they were a natural symbol for the most hidden part of a man ( Psalm 139:13 ), and in  Job 16:13 to "cleave the reins asunder" is to effect the total destruction of the individual (compare   Job 19:27;  Lamentations 3:13 ). This hidden location, coupled with the sacred sacrificial use, caused the kidneys to be thought of as the seat of the innermost moral (and emotional) impulses. So the reins instruct ( Psalm 16:7 ) or are "pricked" ( Psalm 73:21 ), and God can be said to be far from the reins of sinners ( Jeremiah 12:2 ). In all of these passages "conscience" gives the exact meaning. So the reins rejoice ( Proverbs 23:16 ), cause torment (2 Esdras 5:34), or tremble in wrath (1 Macc 2:24). And to "know" or "try the reins" (usually joined with "the heart") is an essential power of God's, denoting His complete knowledge of the nature of every human being ( Psalm 7:9;  Psalm 26:2;  Jeremiah 11:20;  Jeremiah 17:10;  Jeremiah 20:12; The Wisdom of Solomon 1:6;  Revelation 2:23 ). See Fat; Psychology; Sacrifice . Compare RS2 , 379-80, and for Greek sacrificial parallels Journal of Philology , Xix (1890), 46. The anatomical relations are well exhibited in the plate in Sacred Books of the Old Testament , "Leviticus."