Apron

Apron appears twice in the English Bible with different referents. In Genesis 3:7, following the fall, Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together and made themselves “aprons” (Hebrew chagor, more precisely “girdles” or “loincloths”) as the first human attempt to cover their newly experienced shame. This act of self-covering stands in contrast to the later divine provision of garments of skin, suggesting the inadequacy of human remedies for moral guilt.

In Acts 19:12, the word translates the Greek simikinthion, a craftsman's working apron or short cloth that Paul wore during his tentmaking work in Ephesus. Handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched Paul's body were carried to the sick, who were healed and delivered from evil spirits—an episode that underlines the extraordinary character of Paul's ministry in Ephesus and echoes the Gospel accounts of people being healed by touching the fringe of Jesus' garment. The narrative does not suggest that the healing power resided in the objects themselves but in the God who acted through them.