REINS, or Kidneys. The Hebrews ascribe to the Reins or Kidneys, Knowledge, Joy, Pain, Pleasure; hence it is that in Scripture it is so often said, that God Rev. ii. 23. Jer. xvii. 10. xx. 12.searches the Hearts and the Reins. Scrutans renes & corda Deus. That he tries the Jerem. xi. 20.Heart and the Reins. Probans renes & corda. Elsewhere the Scripture imputes to the Reins Love and the Fountain of Generation. Filius tuus qui egredietur de renibus 1 Kings viii. 19.tuis. God upbraids the Jews with having him enough in their Mouths, but not in their Reins, and in their Hearts. Propè es Jer. xii. 2.tu ori eorum, & longè a renibus eorum. Thou art far from their Hearts and Affections. The Prophet entreats the Lord to kindle the Fire of his Love in his Heart. Psal. xxv. 2.Ure renes meos, & cor meum. Elsewhere he complains, that his Distemper had set fire to his Heart, and caused a great Inflammation Psal. lxxii. 21.in his Reins. Inflammatum est cor meum, & renes mei consumati sunt.
In Trouble and in Fear the Reins are 1 Macc. ii. 24. Nahum ii. 10.disturbed and fall a trembling. Contremuerant renes ejus. They faint away. Defectio in cunctis renibus. They are relaxed, and let the Water pass from them. Dan. v. 6. Ez. xxix. 7. Psal. xv. 7. Lam. iii. 13.Compages renum ejus solvebantur. Dissolvisti omnes renes eorum. The Psalmist says, that his Reins have encouraged and excited him to praise the Lord. Increpuerunt me renes mei. Jeremiah says, that the Lord has sent the Daughters of his Quiver into his Reins. Misit in renibus meis filias pharetræ suæ. That is, he has pierced me with his Arrows, he hath exhausted his whole Quiver upon me: For the Daughters of the Quiver are a poetical Expression for Arrows. By a Metaphor it is said, the Fat of the Reins of Wheat, to signify the finest Flower; or, as the Vulgate has translated it, medulla tritici, the Marrow of Wheat.