| Translation | Verse | Text |
| Strong Concordance | La 4:15 | They cried [07121] unto them, Depart [05493] ye; it is unclean [02931]; depart [05493], depart [05493], touch [05060] not: when they fled away [05132] and wandered [05128], they said [0559] among the heathen [01471], They shall no more [03254] sojourn [01481] there. |
| Word | Easton Dictionary - Definition |
| 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; 1 Kings 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. |