Luke 12:35 (DRB)

Passage

Let your loins be girt and lamps burning in your hands.

Nearby Context

Luke 12:33 Sell what you possess and give alms. Make to yourselves bags which grow not old, a treasure in heaven which faileth not: where no thief approacheth, nor moth corrupteth.

Luke 12:34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Luke 12:35 Let your loins be girt and lamps burning in your hands.

Luke 12:36 And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately.

Luke 12:37 Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Amen I say to you that he will gird himself and make them sit down to meat and passing will minister unto them.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "loins", "girt", "lamps", "burning", and "hands". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "loins" and "girt", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 34's "For where your treasure is there will..." into verse 36's "And you yourselves like to men who...", so "loins" and "girt" belong inside that flow. In Luke context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "loins" and "girt" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.