erva · nakedness

What it means

erva (עֶרְוָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “nakedness”.

The private parts of the body; figuratively, shame. Seeing another's nakedness was a grave lack of respect.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. One's private parts; to "uncover" them means sexual relations.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Nakedness: what modesty covers, the private parts of the body. By extension, what is exposed and defenseless, or something shameful. It comes from the verb עָרָה, ‘uncover, lay bare’.

• Seeing or covering another’s nakedness Genesis 9:22Genesis 9:23
• Uncovering nakedness: the forbidden unions Leviticus 18:6Leviticus 20:11
• Covering nakedness in worship Exodus 20:26Exodus 28:42
• “The nakedness of the land”: its weak point Genesis 42:9
• The city stripped bare in judgment Isaiah 47:3Ezekiel 16:37

Historical and cultural background

The altar was not to have steps, “so that your nakedness may not be exposed on it” (Exodus 20:26), and the priests wore linen undergarments “to cover the flesh of {their} nakedness” (Exodus 28:42).

How we translate it

Always “nakedness” (54 times). In Leviticus 18 the Hebrew phrase is rendered as it is throughout the chapter (“to uncover nakedness”, 18:6), and a note in 18:6 explains that it is this chapter’s way of speaking of sexual relations. In Deuteronomy 23:14 and 24:1 the Hebrew expression is kept: “the nakedness of anything”, “a nakedness of something”.

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×5
• Exodus×2
• Leviticus×32
• Deuteronomy×2
• 1 Samuel×1
• Isaiah×2
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×8
• Hosea×1

• Genesis 9:22

  And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.

• Genesis 9:23

  And Shem and Japheth took the cloak and laid it on the shoulders of both of them, and they walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned backward, and the nakedness of their father they did not see.

• Genesis 42:9

  Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, “You are spies; to see the nakedness of the land you have come.”

• Genesis 42:12

  He said to them, “No, but the nakedness of the land you have come to see.”

• Exodus 20:26

  And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.’ ”

• Exodus 28:42

  Make for them linen undergarments to cover the flesh of their nakedness; from the hips to the thighs they shall reach.

• Leviticus 18:6

  None of you shall approach any close relative to uncover nakedness. I am YHWH.

• Leviticus 18:7

  The nakedness of your father and the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover; she is your mother; you shall not uncover her nakedness.

• Leviticus 18:8

  The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is the nakedness of your father.

• Leviticus 18:9

  The nakedness of your sister, daughter of your father or daughter of your mother, born at home or born outside, you shall not uncover their nakedness.

• Leviticus 18:10

  The nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter you shall not uncover their nakedness, for they are your own nakedness.

• Leviticus 18:11

  The nakedness of the daughter of your father’s wife, born to your father, she is your sister; you shall not uncover her nakedness.

• Leviticus 18:12

  The nakedness of your father’s sister you shall not uncover; she is a close relative of your father.

• Leviticus 18:13

  The nakedness of your mother’s sister you shall not uncover, for she is a close relative of your mother.

• Leviticus 18:14

  The nakedness of your father’s brother you shall not uncover: you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt.

• Leviticus 18:15

  The nakedness of your daughter-in-law you shall not uncover; she is your son’s wife; you shall not uncover her nakedness.

• Leviticus 18:16

  The nakedness of your brother’s wife you shall not uncover; it is the nakedness of your brother.

• Leviticus 18:17

  The nakedness of a woman and her daughter you shall not uncover; you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are close relatives; it is infamy.

• Leviticus 18:18

  And you shall not take a woman in addition to her sister as a rival, uncovering her nakedness besides her while she is alive.

• Leviticus 18:19

  And you shall not approach a woman during the menstruation of her uncleanness to uncover her nakedness.

• Leviticus 20:11

  And a man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is on them.

• Leviticus 20:17

  And a man who takes his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off before the eyes of the sons of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.

• Leviticus 20:18

  And a man who lies with a woman in her sickness and uncovers her nakedness has laid bare her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood; both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

• Leviticus 20:19

  And the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister you shall not uncover, for that is laying bare one’s own close relative; they shall bear their iniquity.

• Leviticus 20:20

  And a man who lies with his aunt has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.

• Leviticus 20:21

  And a man who takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.

• Deuteronomy 23:14

  For YHWH your Elohim walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to give your enemies before you; so your camp shall be holy, so that he may not see among you the nakedness of anything and turn away from you.

• Deuteronomy 24:1

  When a man takes a woman and becomes her husband, and it happens, if she does not find favor in his eyes because he has found in her a nakedness of something, and he writes for her a document of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her away from his house,

• 1 Samuel 20:30

  The anger of Saul burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “Son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you are choosing the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the nakedness of your mother?

• Isaiah 20:4

  so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered: the nakedness of Egypt.

• Isaiah 47:3

  Your nakedness will be uncovered, your reproach also will be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will not meet any human being.”

• Lamentations 1:8

  Sin Jerusalem has sinned; therefore she has become an unclean thing; all who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she too groans and turns back.

• Ezekiel 16:8

  And I passed by you and saw you, and look, your time was the time of love; and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; and I swore to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares Adonai YHWH, and you became mine.

• Ezekiel 16:36

  Thus says Adonai YHWH: Because your copper was poured out and your nakedness was uncovered in your prostitutions with your lovers, and with all the idols of your abominations, and because of the blood of your sons that you gave to them,

• Ezekiel 16:37

  therefore, look, I am gathering all your lovers to whom you were pleasing, and all whom you loved, with all whom you hated; and I will gather them against you from all around, and uncover your nakedness to them, and they will see all your nakedness.

• Ezekiel 22:10

  The nakedness of their father they have uncovered in you; the one unclean in her menstruation they have humiliated in you.

• Ezekiel 23:10

  They uncovered her nakedness; her sons and her daughters they took, and her they killed with the sword; and she became a name among women, for they executed judgments on her.

• Ezekiel 23:18

  And she uncovered her prostitutions, and she uncovered her nakedness, and my soul felt aversion toward her, as my soul had felt aversion toward her sister.

• Ezekiel 23:29

  And they will deal with you in hatred, and take all your labor, and leave you naked and bare; and the nakedness of your prostitutions will be uncovered, both your infamy and your prostitutions.

• Hosea 2:9

  Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its appointed time, and I will snatch away my wool and my linen, given to cover her nakedness.

And 14 more times.