NAKEDNESS — shameful exposure, ordinarily of a body. This chapter is the word's literal home: 'uncover the nakedness of' (gilah ervah) is its own fixed legal formula, repeated for every prohibited relationship in vv6-19. The word already appeared once on these pages in a figurative extension — Joseph's brothers accused of coming 'to see the nakedness (ervah) of the land' at Genesis 42:9, 12, applied to a country's undefended border rather than a body. This chapter is where the figure returns to its source. ⚠ Genesis 9's own note on Ham (already on these pages) flagged that 'saw his father's nakedness' carries, for some readers, 'the darker idiom that phrase carries in Leviticus 20' — worth being precise: Ham's verb there is ra'ah, 'to see'; this chapter's own operative verb is gilah, 'to uncover.' Related roots, not identical acts — which is exactly why readers ancient and modern have split on how far Ham's own offense should be read. → first discussed at Lev 18:6