To denude (especially in a disgraceful sense); by implication, to exile (captives being usually stripped); figuratively, to reveal
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H1540 describes uncovering or revealing what was hidden and, in another major use, removing people from their land into exile. Leviticus 18:6 uses uncovering in boundaries concerning nakedness and prohibited sexual relations.
Reader summary
Full entry for גָּלָה (H1540) · Open the biblical lexicon
H1540 describes uncovering or revealing what was hidden and, in another major use, removing people from their land into exile. Leviticus 18:6 uses uncovering in boundaries concerning nakedness and prohibited sexual relations.
The BSB source-word alignment has 186 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (14), he has uncovered (5), carried away (4), been revealed (3), carried into exile (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 9:21. Its strongest book concentrations include Jeremiah (26), Leviticus (24), Isaiah (17), 1 Samuel (15).
H1540 describes uncovering or revealing what was hidden and, in another major use, removing people from their land into exile. Leviticus 18:6 uses uncovering in boundaries concerning nakedness and prohibited sexual relations. Proverbs 11:13 contrasts one who reveals a confidence with a trustworthy person who keeps a matter. Amos 3:7 speaks of the Lord revealing his counsel to the prophets.
Second Kings 17:23 uses the same root for Israel's removal from the land. The word's senses must not be collapsed: prophetic disclosure is not sexual exposure, and exile is not merely new information coming to light. H1540 helps teachers address revelation, confidentiality, bodily dignity, public truth, displacement, and judgment while protecting survivors from forced disclosure and refusing to romanticize exile.
The local construction and narrative setting determine whether the action uncovers, discloses, removes, or exposes.
H1540 spans bodily uncovering, disclosure of secrets or counsel, visible exposure, and forced removal into exile. Scripture evaluates those actions through holiness, trust, justice, prophetic truth, judgment, and restoration.
None of you are to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the Lord.
The prohibition concerns uncovering the nakedness of a close relative, placing bodily and sexual boundaries under covenant holiness rather than curiosity or entitlement.
A gossip reveals a secret, but a trustworthy person keeps a confidence.
Revealing a confidence is contrasted with trustworthy restraint, showing that disclosure must be evaluated by faithfulness and responsibility.
Surely the Lord God does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.
The Lord reveals his counsel to his servants the prophets within Amos's explanation of accountable prophetic warning.
Finally, the Lord removed Israel from His presence, as He had declared through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their homeland into Assyria, where they are to this day.
Israel is removed into exile after sustained covenant rebellion, naming historical displacement rather than a metaphor for personal discomfort.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Exposure of shame or secrets; literal denudation bleeds into exile, disclosure, and divine revelation of hidden things.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 186 lexical occurrence verses.
גָּלָה is a primitive root - no further derivation.
The term emphasizes the betrayal of confidential information.Micah 1:10-16
It signals forced removal from the land, capturing the gravity of covenant curse and setting the theological backdrop for later restoration.Proverbs 11:13
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H1540 teaches that bringing something into the open is not morally simple. Amos presents divine disclosure as accountable prophetic grace before judgment, while Proverbs warns that a person can disclose what faithfulness required them to protect. Leviticus places bodily access within firm relational boundaries, so the language must never be used to normalize voyeurism, sexual entitlement, invasive questioning, or public exposure of a survivor.
The exile sense adds another dimension: people can be torn from land, home, kin, and social protection. Such removal is not a decorative metaphor for ordinary change. Biblical judgment texts must be handled without treating displaced people as morally suspect or claiming a modern disaster reveals a victim's secret sin. Responsible ministry asks what truth must be reported, what confidence should be guarded, what evidence must be preserved, and who has authority to disclose it.
Confidentiality is not absolute when someone is endangered, yet public curiosity is not the same as safeguarding. H1540 supports truthful revelation under God's authority while demanding bodily dignity, trauma-aware consent, lawful reporting, and honest lament over displacement.
Prov.11.13
H1540 is a Hebrew verb whose stems and objects shape a broad range: uncovering, revealing, exposing, removing, and going into exile. A bodily object, secret, prophetic counsel, land, or people signals materially different senses.
The Old Testament uses H1540 for bodily boundaries, disclosed counsel, betrayed secrets, exposure, and exile. The New Testament likewise joins light and disclosure to truthful judgment, yet commands protection from shame, careful restoration, and responsible treatment of vulnerable people.