Bible Lexicons

Girdlestone's Synonyms of the Old TestamentGirdlestone's OT Synonyms

World

The general word translated world in the A. V. is tevel (תבל , Ass tabalu, 'dry land'). There are a few exceptions. Thus in Isaiah 38:11 we read, 'I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world;' here the word (חדל ) may perhaps signify the place of rest, cessation, forbearance. [We find the root rendered forbear in Ezekiel 3:27; frail in Psalms 39:4; and rejected in Isaiah 53:3.] in Psalms 17:14, 'From men of the world,' and 49:1, 'Inhabitants of the world,' we find a word (חלד ) which may refer to the transitory state of things in this world which 'passeth away.' It is rendered age or time in Job 11:17, Psalms 39:5; Psalms 89:47 in Psalms 22:27, Isaiah 23:17; Isaiah 62:11, and Jeremiah 25:26, erets is used. Olam (עולֹם ) is found in Psalms 73:12, 'These prosper in the world;' Ecclesiastes 3:11, 'He hath set the world in their heart;' and in Isaiah 45:17; Isaiah 64:4.

by tevel is signified, first, the solid material on which man dwells, and which was formed, founded, established, and disposed by God; and secondly, the inhabitants thereof. It is usually rendered οἰκουμένη in the LXX, never κόσμος, which was originally used only to denote order and ornament, but had acquired a new meaning in our Lord's time.

The orig in of the word is a little doubtful. A word spelt similarly, and used in Leviticus 18:23 and other passages, signifies pollution, confusion, or dispersion (from בלל ). It is supposed, however, by Gesenius to be connected with the root yaval (יבל ), to flow, and to indicate the world is flooded.

In one or two passages only does the word tevel or οἰκουμένη appear to refer to a limited portion of the earth. Perhaps Isaiah 24:4 may be mentioned as an example.

The expression 'round world,' which occurs in the P. B. version in Psalms 18:15; Psalms 89:12; Psalms 93:2; Psalms 96:10; Psalms 98:8, simply stands for tevel. It is to be found in Coverdale's Bible, and is traceable to the old, Latin version, Orb is terrarum, the earth being regarded by the ancients as a disk, though not as a globe.

In the N.T. the word οἰκουμένη is certainly used of the Roman Empire in Luke 2:1, and perhaps in the quotation in Romans 10:18, where the larger sense of the word implied in the Psalms could hardly be intended in other passages we must understand the word as signifying all the earth, e.g in Matthew 24:14; Acts 17:31; Hebrews 1:6; Hebrews 2:5. Prophetic students have a right to either interpretation in Revelation 3:10; Revelation 12:9; Revelation 16:14, but the Roman use of the word is not so likely to be adopted by St. John as the Jewish.