נַבְלוּת

From the study of Hosea 2:10

Range of meaning

This word occurs only once in the Hebrew Bible, so its meaning has to be worked out from related words and context. The root n-b-l gives nāḇāl ('a fool', in the sense of a morally and socially outrageous person, not a dim one) and nəḇālāh ('an outrageous, disgraceful act'), which is regularly used for sexual crimes that shatter community norms (Genesis 34:7; Deuteronomy 22:21; Judges 19:23–24; 20:6; 2 Samuel 13:12). BDB gives 'immodesty, shamelessness'. HALOT and a number of commentators (e.g. Andersen & Freedman) favour a concrete meaning, 'genitals, private parts', and some compare an Akkadian word. Another line connects the word with nāḇēl 'to wither' and reads it as 'her withered, shrivelled state', a stripped and barren body to match a land stripped of its crops.

Against the English

KJV, ESV, NIV, NASB and BSB say 'lewdness'. NRSV and JPS-type renderings say 'shame'. YLT says 'dishonour'. NLT turns the line into the scene itself ('strip her naked'). 'Lewdness' leans toward behaviour (lustful conduct). The Hebrew is aimed more at what is shown: her disgrace and her naked body together.

How it drifted

In modern English 'lewd' mostly means crude, obscene or vulgar talk and behaviour. In earlier English, 'lewdness' was used broadly for wickedness and sexual misconduct. The Hebrew point, a hidden shame made visible, is lost when the word suggests rude jokes or leering.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hapax in the Hebrew Bible. Its relatives (nəḇālāh) cluster in narratives of sexual outrage 'in Israel'. The LXX renders it akatharsia ('uncleanness'). The Vulgate gives stultitia ('folly'), following the n-b-l root as 'foolishness'.