Word study

Expose

3 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: exposed, expose, exposing. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.

At a glance

How often each original word is translated “expose” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • גָּלָה gâlâhuncover, removetranslated this way 17 times of its 170 uses · Strong’s H1540Verb  ·  Translated: revealed 14, uncovered 13, exiled 12, sexual relations 11

    Exodus 20:26 And you must not go up to My altar on steps, lest your nakedness be exposed on it.’’’

    2 Samuel 22:16 The channels of the sea appeared, and the foundations of the world were exposed at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils.

    Full study and all 161 verses →
  • עָרָה ârâhbe naked, baretranslated this way 4 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H6168Verb  ·  Translated: poured 2, expose 2

    Leviticus 20:18 If a man lies with a menstruating woman and has sexual relations with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood. Both of them must be cut off from among their people.

    Lamentations 4:21 So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.

    Full study and all 14 verses →
  • נָגַד nâgadbe conspicuoustranslated this way 2 times of its 360 uses · Strong’s H5046Verb  ·  Translated: tell 83, told 67, reported 31, declare 18

    Esther 6:2 And there it was found recorded that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the king’s entrance, when they had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

    Isaiah 57:12 I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not profit you.

    Full study and all 339 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἐλέγχω elénchōI rebuke, exposetranslated this way 3 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s G1651Verb  ·  Translated: rebuke 3, rebuked 2, exposed 2, convict 2

    John 3:20 Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

    Ephesians 5:11 Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

    Full study and all 17 verses →
  • εὑρίσκω heurískōI findtranslated this way 2 times of its 172 uses · Strong’s G2147Verb  ·  Translated: found 82, find 49, finds 14, Finding 4

    1 Corinthians 15:15 In that case, we are also exposed as false witnesses about God. For we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead, but He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised.

    Revelation 2:2 I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles.

    Full study and all 163 verses →
  • φανερόω phaneróōI make clear, visible, or manifesttranslated this way 2 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s G5319Verb  ·  Translated: revealed 17, appeared 6, appears 4, made 3

    1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

    Revelation 3:18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

    Full study and all 43 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
  2. Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.

Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.