עוֹר99 H5785
Skin, hide, leather; the outer covering of a human body, an animal's hide, or processed leather used for articles and garments.
From Eden's first garments—'coats of skin' fashioned by God for Adam and Eve (Gen 3:21)—to the meticulous purity regulations of Leviticus, or functions as a concretely physical term spanning human vulnerability, animal sacrifice, and material culture. The word dominates Leviticus 13, where thirty-three occurrences detail the inspection of skin afflictions. Job's anguished cries ('my skin hangs on my bones,' Job 19:20) and Jeremiah's rhetorical question about the Ethiopian's skin (Jer 13:23) make it a word of embodied suffering. When processed into leather, it covers the tabernacle (Exod 26:14) and must be purified when contaminated (Lev 11:32). Spanish piel and cuero, German Haut and Fell, French peau and cuir all reflect this natural three-way split.
Senses
1. skin of a person — The outer bodily covering of a human being, especially in contexts of disease, suffering, and physical description. Fifty-nine occurrences make this the dominant sense, with Leviticus 13 alone accounting for over half as the priest examines skin for signs of tsar'at (traditionally 'leprosy'). Job's tormented body (Job 7:5; 10:11; 19:20, 26) and Ezekiel's valley of dry bones receiving skin (Ezek 37:6, 8) show the word marking the boundary between life and death, wholeness and decay. The construct 'or basar ('skin of the flesh') in Levitical law became a technical diagnostic phrase. 59×
AR["-الجِلْدَ", "الْجِلْدِ", "فِي-الْجِلْدِ", "فِي-جِلْدٍ"]·ben["-চামড়া", "চামড়ায়", "সেই-চামড়া", "সেই-চামড়ায়"]·DE["der-Haut", "der-verbergen", "in-der-Haut", "in-der-leather", "in-leather"]·EN["in-leather", "in-the-leather", "in-the-skin", "the-hide", "the-skin"]·FR["dans-cuir", "dans-le-cuir", "dans-le-peau", "le-cacher", "le-peau"]·heb["ב-ה-עור", "ב-עור", "ה-עור"]·HI["उसके बाद", "उसके शरीर", "और-ढकेगा", "और-बाल", "खाल-को", "गहरी", "पहनावे", "में-चमड़ी", "में-ताने", "रोग", "वह"]·ID["kulit", "pada-kulit"]·IT["il-nascondere", "il-pelle", "in-cuoio", "in-il-cuoio", "in-il-pelle"]·jav["ing-kulit", "kulit"]·KO["가죽-에", "그-가죽을", "그-피부", "피부-에"]·PT["a-pele", "em-couro", "na-pele", "no-couro"]·RU["в-коже", "кожа", "кожу", "на-коже"]·ES["en-cuero", "en-el-cuero", "en-la-piel", "la-piel"]·SW["katika-ngozi", "ngozi"]·TR["deride", "deriden", "deriyi"]·urd["میں-چمڑے", "میں-کھال", "کھال"]
2. animal hide or skin — The skin or hide of an animal, either freshly removed during sacrifice or still on the living creature. Twenty-seven occurrences concentrate in sacrificial law: the 'skin of the bull' burned outside the camp (Exod 29:14; Lev 4:11), the priestly right to the skin of the burnt offering (Lev 7:8), and Jacob's stratagem with goatskins on his hands (Gen 27:16). The distinction between human skin and animal hide is not lexical but contextual—Hebrew uses the same word for both, while German distinguishes Haut from Fell and Spanish piel from cuero. 27×
AR["جلودَ", "جُلودَ", "جُلُودِ", "جِلدُ", "جِلْدَ", "جِلْدُ", "جِلْدِ"]·ben["চামড়া"]·DE["Fell-von", "Felle-von", "Haut-von", "der-Haut-von", "die-Felle"]·EN["skin-of", "skins-of", "the-skin-of"]·FR["le-peau-de", "peau-de", "peaux-de"]·heb["עור", "עורות"]·HI["खाल", "खालें", "खालों", "चमड़ा", "चमड़े", "त्वचा", "फूटा", "रोग"]·ID["kulit", "kulit-kulit"]·IT["il-pelle-di", "pelle-di", "pelli-di"]·jav["kulit", "kulit-", "kulit-kulit"]·KO["가좽-의", "가죽", "가죽-의", "가죽들", "가죽들을", "가죽을", "피부", "피부가"]·PT["a-pele-de", "pele-de", "pele-de-", "peles-de", "peles-de-"]·RU["кож", "кожа", "кожи", "кожу", "шкур", "шкурами", "шкуры"]·ES["la-piel-de", "piel-de", "pieles-de"]·SW["cha-ngozi", "cha-ngozi-za", "cha-ngozi-za-", "ngozi", "ngozi-ya", "ngozi-ya-", "ngozi-za-"]·TR["deri", "derileri", "derilerini", "derisi", "derisini", "derisinin"]·urd["کھال", "کھالوں-کا", "کھالیں"]
Gen 27:16, Exod 25:5, Exod 25:5, Exod 26:14, Exod 26:14, Exod 34:29, Exod 34:30, Exod 34:35, Exod 35:7, Exod 35:7, Exod 35:23, Exod 35:23 (+15 more)
3. leather as processed material — Animal skin processed into leather, used for manufactured articles such as garments, vessels, and tabernacle coverings. Thirteen occurrences appear primarily in purity regulations (Lev 11:32; 13:48-59; 15:17) and tabernacle construction (Exod 25:5; 26:14). The 'rams' skins dyed red' and 'tachash skins' covering the tabernacle show leather as a worked material distinct from raw hide. Leviticus 13:48-59 treats leather articles alongside woven fabric in mold-contamination law, treating or as an industrial product requiring its own purity protocol. 13×
AR["الْجِلْدُ", "الْجِلْدِ", "جِلْدٍ"]·ben["চামড়া", "চামড়ার", "চামড়ার।", "সেই-চামড়া", "সেই-চামড়ার"]·DE["Haut", "der-leather", "leather"]·EN["leather", "skin", "the-leather"]·FR["cuir", "le-cuir", "leather", "peau"]·heb["ה-עור", "עור"]·HI["उसे", "चमड़ा", "चमड़े-का", "जिसमें", "या"]·ID["kulit"]·IT["cuoio", "il-cuoio", "leather", "pelle"]·jav["kulit"]·KO["가죽", "가죽의", "가죽이나", "그-가죽", "그-가죽-의"]·PT["couro", "o-couro"]·RU["кожа", "кожаный", "кожи"]·ES["cuero", "el-cuero", "piel"]·SW["ngozi"]·TR["deri", "deriden", "derinin"]·urd["چمڑا", "چمڑے", "چمڑے-کا", "چمڑے-کی", "چمڑے-کے"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H7200 1. Qal: to see, perceive (1257×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G4771 2. you (singular address) (1077×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)H8085 1. Qal: hear, perceive aurally (921×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0859a 1. you (2nd person masculine singular pronoun) (743×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
עוֹר99 n.m. Jb 7:5 skin (NH id.; Ph. ערת Lzb 346);—ע׳ abs. Gn 3:21 +, cstr. Ex 34:29 +; sf. עֹרוֹ 29:14 +, עוֹרוֹ Je 13:23, עֹרָהּ Nu 19:5, etc.; pl. cstr. עֹרֹת Gn 27:16 +, עוֹרֹת Ex 39:34, sf. עֹרֹתָם Lv 16:27;—skin: 1. of men (55 times), שׂמְלָתוֹ לְעֹרוֹ Ex 22:26 (E), ע׳ פָּנָיו 34:29, 30 cf. v 35 (all P); (dark) skin of Cushite Je 13:23; v. also Ez 37:6, 8 La 3:8 Jb 7:5; 10:11 +; in hyperb.…