they became wild and ferocious and a bloodthirsty people full of idolatry and filthiness feeding upon beasts of prey dwelling in tents and wandering about in the wilderness with a short skin
[girted 1PS|girded A|girdle BCDEFGHIJKLMNOQRT] about their loins
The spelling girted (found in the current RLDS edition for this verse and in the manuscripts generally) is nonstandard since the main verb is gird and the past tense is
girded, as here in the 1830 edition and elsewhere for eight other passages (in both the LDS and RLDS texts).
The introduction of girdle in the 1837 edition for Enos 1:20 appears to be a typo. This change was not marked by Joseph Smith in his editing of the printer’s manuscript for the 1837
edition. The error may have been influenced by the familiar language in the Gospels that refers to the clothing of John the Baptist:
- Matthew 3:4
- and the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair and a leathern girdle about his loins
- Mark 1:6
- and John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a girdle of a skin about his loins
Note that the second of these biblical citations, like Enos 1:20, refers to “a skin”.
Excluding six occurrences in Isaiah quotations, the word girdle appears only once in the original Book of Mormon text, and in that instance it also occurs with the verb gird:
- Mosiah 10:8
- and they were girded about with a leathern girdle about their loins
The usage in this particular instance has parallels in the King James Bible:
- 2 Kings 1:8
- he was an hairy man and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins
- Job 12:18
- he looseth the bond of kings and girdeth their loins with a girdle
- Ezekiel 23:15
-
girded with girdles upon their loins
The first of these biblical parallels is particularly close to the language of Mosiah 10:8, especially with the reference to a leather girdle in both cases. In Mosiah 10:8, the verb used is
gird, which is what we find whenever the text refers to something being girded about one’s loins:
- 1 Nephi 4:19
- and I did gird on his armor about my loins
- 1 Nephi 4:21
- for he beheld the garments and also the sword girded about my loins
- Enos 1:20 (original text)
- with a short skin girded about their loins
- Mosiah 10:8
- and they were girded about with a leather girdle about their loins
- Alma 3:5
- and they were naked save it were a skin which was girded about their loins and also their armor which was girded about them
- Alma 43:20
- but they were naked save it were a skin which was girded about their loins
- Alma 46:13
- and he fastened on his headplate and his breastplate and his shields and girded on his armor about his loins
- Alma 46:21
- behold the people came running together with their armors girded about their loins
- 3 Nephi 4:7
- and they were girded about after the manner of robbers and they had a lambskin about their loins
