Reins (Hastings' Dictionary)

This name for the kidneys is now obsolete, though RV retains it in all its 18* occurrences in AV. It comes from Lat. rcnes the kidneys, through Old Fr. rr.ins, whUe 'kidneys' is of Seand. origin. The word was always used with some freedom. Thus Cov. translates Ezk 29' ' Vlf they leaned upon the, thou brakest, and hurtdest the reynes of their backes' ; and in AV it is once used for the loins (Is 11°). This indeliniteness and not any sense of its becoming antiquated must have leil tlie AV translators to use the word only figuratively, to express those feelings or emotions which %\ere understood by the Hebrews to have their seat in the kidneys. Only in the marg. of Lv '22'' is the literal use found. The lit. sense ia common enough in writers of the day und later. Thus Bacon, Essays, p. 2u5, ' Bowling is good tor the Stone and Reines ; and Milton, FL fi. 34(J— ' For Spirits, that live throu^hoal Vital in every part— not, as frail Slan, In entrails, heart or lieait, liver or reioB — Cannot but by annihilating die.' ' When,' says Driver {Par. Psulter, 454), 'it is said of God that he trietli (or seeth) the "hearts and reins" (Ps 7», Jer IV-" 17'" '20'-), it is implied that He is cognizant of man's emotions and affections, not less than of his thoughts.' See Kidneys. J. Hastings.