H8397 H8397
perversion, confusion, violation of natural/divine order (sexual abomination)
This noun appears only in Leviticus 18:23 and 20:12, both in the Holiness Code's sexual prohibitions. It denotes something fundamentally disordered, a confusion or mixing that violates the created order. The contexts are specific: bestiality in 18:23 and incest in 20:12. The term goes beyond simple wrongdoing to suggest a perversion of nature itself, a chaos introduced into God's ordered creation. The Hebrew root conveys the idea of mixing or confusing what should remain distinct.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The consistent translation across languages—'perversion' in English, Spanish, French, and German—reflects the term's technical legal-moral sense in Levitical law. Used exclusively for sexual violations that transgress not just command but the boundaries of creation itself, the word marks these acts as category confusions, disruptions of the natural order that God established. 2×
AR["فَاحِشَةً", "فَاحِشَةٌ"]·ben["বিকৃতি"]·DE["perversion"]·EN["perversion"]·FR["perversion"]·heb["תבל"]·HI["विकृति"]·ID["percabulan"]·IT["perversion"]·jav["campur-bawur", "kacampuran"]·KO["혼음"]·PT["perversão"]·RU["смешение"]·ES["perversión"]·SW["upotovu"]·TR["sapıklık"]·urd["فحاشی", "گندگی"]
Related Senses
H2896a 1. good (quality or moral) (305×)H7563 1. wicked person (259×)H7451c 1. moral evil or wickedness (234×)H5771 1. iniquity, sin, wrongdoing (222×)H6662 1. righteous person (substantive) (195×)G0266 1. sin, failure, transgression (173×)H2403b 1. sin, transgression (170×)H2617a 1. Covenant faithfulness, steadfast love (167×)H2398 1. Qal: to sin, commit sin (165×)H6666 1. righteousness, moral uprightness (145×)G5485 1. grace, divine favor (141×)H7451a 1. morally evil, wicked (129×)H2403b 2. sin-offering, sacrifice for sin (120×)G2570 1. good, right, excellent (98×)H6588 1. transgression, offense against God (88×)G0018 1. good (moral quality) (85×)H2896b 1. good, what is good (85×)H7451b 1. evil, wickedness (moral) (83×)H7451a 2. evil, harm, calamity (80×)G1342 1. righteous, upright (of persons) (70×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† תֶּ֫בֶל n.[m.] confusion, violation of nature, or the divine order—Lv 18:23; 20:12 (H) cf. Di on 18:15.