Reference: Heathen
Easton
(Heb plural goyum). At first the word goyim denoted generally all the nations of the world (Ge 18:18; comp. Ga 3:8). The Jews afterwards became a people distinguished in a marked manner from the other goyim. They were a separate people (Le 20:23; 26:14-45; De 28), and the other nations, the Amorites, Hittites, etc., were the goyim, the heathen, with whom the Jews were forbidden to be associated in any way (Jos 23:7; 1Ki 11:2). The practice of idolatry was the characteristic of these nations, and hence the word came to designate idolaters (Ps 106:47; Jer 46:28; La 1:3; Isa 36:18), the wicked (Ps 9:5,15,17).
The corresponding Greek word in the New Testament, ethne, has similar shades of meaning. In Ac 22:21; Ga 3:14, it denotes the people of the earth generally; and in Mt 6:7, an idolater. In modern usage the word denotes all nations that are strangers to revealed religion.
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seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and that all the Gentiles of the earth shall be blessed in him?
And ye shall not walk in the practices of the Gentiles which I shall cast out before you; for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.
But if ye will not hearken unto me and will not do all these my commandments; and if ye shall despise my statutes or if your soul should abhor my rights so that ye will not do all my commandments but that ye break my covenant, read more. I also will do this unto you: I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague that shall consume the eyes and torment the soul, and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will place my wrath upon you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies; those that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when no one pursues you. And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your stronghold, and I will make your heaven as iron and your earth as bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. And if ye walk contrary unto me and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you which shall rapture your children and destroy your animals and make you few in number, and your ways shall be desolate. And if ye will not be corrected by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me, then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring an avenging sword upon you, in vindication of the covenant; and ye shall gather together within your cities; but I will send pestilence among you, and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight, and ye shall eat and not be satisfied. And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me but walk contrary unto me, then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury, and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places and cut down your images and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the aroma of your suave incense. And I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies who dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles and will draw out a sword after you, and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. Then shall the land rest for her sabbaths all the days that it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths. All the time that it shall be desolate, it shall rest that which it did not rest in your sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it. And upon those that are left alive of you I will send such cowardice into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, that the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursue. And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursue; and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. And ye shall perish among the Gentiles, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And those that are left of you shall pine away for their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and for the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. And they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers for their trespass which they trespassed against me and that also they have walked contrary unto me, and that I also have walked contrary unto them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; and then their uncircumcised hearts shall be humbled, and they shall plead because of their iniquity; and I will remember my covenant with Jacob and likewise my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember, and I will remember the land. That the land shall be without them and shall rest her sabbaths, being desolate because of them; and they shall plead because of their iniquity because they despised my rights and their soul abhorred my statutes. And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly and to break my covenant with them; for I AM their God. But I will remember them because of the old covenant, when I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the Gentiles, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.
that ye not enter in among these Gentiles that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them,
Thou hast reprehended the Gentiles, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.
The Gentiles are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid their own foot is taken.
The wicked shall be put into Sheol, all the Gentiles that forget God.
Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles, that we might lift up thy holy name, that we might glory in thy praise.
Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Have any of the gods of the Gentiles delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Fear thou not, O Jacob my slave, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the Gentiles where I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but I will chastise thee with judgment; and I will not completely cut thee off.
Gimel Judah is gone into captivity because of the affliction and because of the greatness of the servitude; she dwells among the Gentiles; she finds no rest; all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the worldly do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
And he said unto me, Depart, for I will send thee far from here unto the Gentiles.
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles through faith, evangelized Abraham in advance, saying, In thee shall all the Gentiles be blessed.
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Fausets
(See GENTILES .)
Hastings
Morish
The Hebrew word goi is also translated 'Gentiles,' and 'people,' and very often 'nations:' it is used in contrast to Israel irrespective of those designated being civilised or not. All the nations were idolaters, but this is not implied in the word goi, nor in the qno" -->????? of the N.T., which is more frequently translated 'nations' and 'Gentiles.' In Mt 18:17 ??????? has a peculiar application: if an offending brother will not bear the church, the injunction is "let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican," that is, as an outsider, the heathen being outside the privileges of Israel, as one to be avoided: cf. Ro 16:17; 2Th 3:6,14.
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And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the congregation ; but if he neglects to hear the congregation, let him be unto thee as a worldly man and a publican.
And I beseech you, brethren, mark those who cause dissensions and offences outside of the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them.
Smith
Hea'then.
[GENTILES]
See Gentiles