עֶרְוָה
nakedness
also: nudity, shame, pudenda fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
State
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
1 verse where H6172 appears in the Absolute state in the Book of Exodus. Filtered view — show all forms. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Exodus
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
ערוה (ʻervâh) is a Hebrew noun most often rendered “nakedness.” It clusters heavily in Leviticus, which alone accounts for 50% of its uses. With 40 verses in 9 books, it is a moderately common word in the Hebrew Bible. It first appears in Genesis 9:22. Beyond its headline sense, its full sense range takes in “nudity”, “shame”, and “pudenda”. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H6172 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 40
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 40 distinct verses.
- 9 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 9 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #696
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 696 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 40 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 40 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 28 verses · 70%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 11 verses · 28%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 1 verse · 3%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Nakedness 47×
- American Standard Version: Nakedness 34×, 's nakedness 8×
- Berean Standard Bible: Nakedness 16×, Have sexual relations with 7×, Shame 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Nakedness 24×, Nakedness of 24×, Is the nakedness of 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H6172 across 53 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 6 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H6172 across 53 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 11 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H6172 across 37 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 10 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 17 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H6172 across 55 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 5 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in the full BDB
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 3 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
- 1. pudenda, of man, רָאָה ע׳ implying shameful exposure Gn 9:22, 23 (J); mostly of woman: fig. of Jerus. (c. רָאָה) La 1:8; Ez 16:37; usually c. גלה: lit. תִּגָּלֶה ע׳ i.e. be exposed to view Ex 20:23 (Ginsb; van d. H. v 26; E), so, as shameful punishment, fig. of Egypt Is 20:4 (gloss according to Du Che Di-Kit), Bab. 47:3, of Jerus. Ez 16:37; 23:10, 29 (עֶרְוַת זְנוּנַיִךְ; all three obj. of act. vb.); chiefly euphem. for cohabit., גִּלָּה ע׳ Lv 18:6 + (v. גלה Pi. 1 a); fig. of Jerus. (vb. pass.) Ez 16:36; רָאָה ע׳ in same meaning Lv 20:17(×2) (H; of both sexes); ע׳ also 18:8, 10, 16 (H); כִּסָּה ע׳ cover nakedness Gn 9:23 (J), Ex 28:42 (P; בְּשַׂר ע׳), Ho 2:11 (fig. of Isr.), Ez 16:8 (of Jerus.); reviling words are לְבֹשֶׁת ע׳ אִמֶּ֑ךָ 1 S 20:30 (cf. DoughtyArab. Deserta i. 269). e.g. Genesis 9:22
- 2. עֶרְוַת דָּבָר nakedness of a thing, i.e. prob. indecency, improper behaviour Dt 23:15; 24:1 (v. Dr). e.g. Deuteronomy 23:15
- 3. fig. ע׳ הָאָרֶץ Gn 42:9, 12 (E), i.e. its exposed, undefended parts (Arabic عَوْرَةٌ). e.g. Genesis 42:9
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
n.f. nakedness, pudenda;—abs. ע׳ Ex 28:42 Lv 18:6; usually cstr. עֶרְוַת Gn 9:22 +, sf. עֶרְוָתְֽךָ Ex 20:23 (Ginsb), Lv 18:10; עֶרְוָתֵךְ Is 47:3 +; -תוֹ Lv 20:17, -תָהּ 18:7 +; sf. 3 fpl. עֶרְוָתָן v 9, 10;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from ערה (ʻârâh) (H6168) — to uncover.
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
עֶרְוָה
- nakedness, shame; unchastity, lewdness, obscenity. Cant. R. to I, 2 מה מים מכסים עֶרְוָתוֹ … עֶרְוָתָן as water covers the nakedness of the sea, … so (study of) the Law covers up the nakedness (atones for the sins) of Israel. Ber. 24ᵇ לבו רואה את הע׳ his heart sees the nakedness, i.e. there is no garment (girdle &c.) separating the upper part of the body from the lower. Ib. 24ᵃ משום ע׳, v. עֲגָבָה. Ib. קול באשה ע׳ hearing a woman’s voice is indecency (you must not read the Sh’mʿa while a woman is singing within your heaving); שער באשה ע׳ the sight of woman’s hair is an impropriety (with regard to reading the Sh’mʿa). Gitt. IX, 10 לא יגרש … דבר ע׳ a man must not divorce his wife, unless he have found in her something improper (v. Deut. XXIV, 1). Ib. 90ᵃ (interpret. ערות דבר, Deut. l. c.) אם נאמר ערות … הייתי אומר משום ע׳ תצא משום דבר לא תצא if the text had ʿervath (meaning ʿervah) without dabar, I might have thought, for scandalous conduct she is to be dismissed, for ‘something’ (any other cause) she must not be dismissed. Ib. לא מצא בה לא ע׳ ולא דבר if he found in her neither indecency nor any other fault. Ib. 64ᵃ a. fr. אין דבר שבע׳ פחות משנים any act in which purity of sexual life is concerned (marriage, divorce &c.) requires no less than two witnesses. Ab. III, 13 שחוק … מרגילין (את האדם) לע׳ merriment and light-mindedness make man familiar with licentiousness; a. v. fr.—Esp. incest, trnsf. ʿervah, a woman forbidden to a man (and vice versa) on account of consanguinity. Yeb. 3ᵇ מה אחות אשה מיוחדת שהיא ע׳ … אף כל שהיא ע׳ וכ׳ as the sister of a man’s (living) wife who is singled out (Lev. XVIII, 18) as an ʿervah, with the punishment of extinction in case of wilfulness, and of a sin-offering in case of mistake, may not be taken in a levirate marriage, so no woman that is a forbidden relation … may be taken &c. Ib. 13ᵃ צרות ע׳ the rivals of a woman forbidden on account of consanguinity; a. v. fr.—Pl. עֲרָיוֹת (fr. עֶרְיָה). Keth. 13ᵇ, v. אֶפִּיטְרוֹפּוֹס.—גילוי ע׳, v. גִּילּוּי. Yeb. I, 2 היתה בתו או אחת מכל הע׳ האלו וכ׳ if a man’s daughter or any other of those (above mentioned) relations was married to his brother. Ib. 3ᵇ כל הע׳ האמורות בתורה all forbidden relations named in the Torah. Ib. I, 3 שש ע׳ חמורות מאלו six relations more rigorously forbidden than these. Meg. IV, 9, v. כָּנָה; a. fr. e.g. Deuteronomy 24:1
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 24 distinct written forms H6172 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H6172, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
- מער maʻar H4626 nakedness
- מערה maʻăreh H4629 bare place
- ערה ʻârâh H6169 bare place
- תער taʻar H8593 razor
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 8 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 40 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 40 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 9:22
- Exodus 20:26
- Leviticus 18:6
- Deuteronomy 23:14
- 1 Samuel 20:30
- Isaiah 20:4
- Lamentations 1:8
- Ezekiel 16:8
- Hosea 2:9
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
