“naked.” The Hebrew root word is arvm, which is a homonym—when two words are spelled the same but have different meanings, such as the “bark” on a tree and the “bark” of a dog. The two meanings of arvm that are important in Genesis are “naked” (Gen. 2:25) and “crafty.” Here, arvm means “naked,” but in Genesis 3:1 it means “crafty.”

[For more on arvm and why it is important to know it is a homonym, see commentary on Genesis 3:1. Mankind starts out naked, but becomes both “naked” and “crafty.”]