For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and [so] builded. And he that sounded the trumpet [was] by me.
Ver. 18. For the builders every one had his sword girded by his side] Heb. on his loins; that is the place for the sword to hang on: Psalms 45:3, "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty." And Revelation 19:16, Christ's name is written upon his vesture, that all may see it, and upon his thigh, where his sword hangs, to show that he won it by his valour. Among the Turks at this day, as the right hand is held uppermost for a scholar, so the left for a soldier; because it gives a man possession of his companion's sword; though the Turks seldom bear weapons but in travel; and then some of them seem no less like a walking, than these builders did like a working, armoury.