Meaning
Heathen (Heb. plural goyum). At first the word goyim denoted generally all the nations of the world (Gen 18:18; comp. Gal 3:8). The Jews afterwards became a people distinguished in a marked manner from the other goyim . They were a separate people (Lev 20:23; 26:14-45; Deut 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 (Josh 23:7; 1Kings 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; Lam 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 Acts 22:21, Gal 3:14, it denotes the people of the earth generally; and in Matt 6:7, an idolater. In modern usage the word denotes all nations that are strangers to revealed religion.
