Biblical Lexicon

γῆ G1093

N-AFS | 252× in 4 senses

Earth, land, ground — the world as a whole, a specific territory or country, soil as physical substance, or dry land versus sea

The Greek ge is remarkably elastic, stretching from the entire created planet ('heaven and earth,' Matt 5:18) to a named country ('the land of Israel,' Matt 2:20) to the dirt a farmer works ('the seed fell on rocky ground,' Mark 4:5) to the shore a fisherman pulls his boat onto (Luke 5:11). Context alone determines which scale is in view. Spanish tierra and French terre mirror this same breadth, collapsing cosmic, political, agricultural, and coastal meanings into a single word — a pattern that the multilingual evidence confirms is nearly universal.

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1. earth, the world — The earth as a whole — the created world or planet, often set in contrast with heaven. 'Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven' (Matt 6:10), 'the meek shall inherit the earth' (Matt 5:5), and 'till heaven and earth pass away' (Matt 5:18) all invoke ge as the totality of the terrestrial realm. This cosmic sense dominates (176x). Every target language uses its broadest geographic term: Spanish tierra, Arabic al-ard, Korean ttang/sesang, Swahili dunia. 176×

GEOGRAPHY_SPACE › Geographical Objects and Features › Earth and Land

AR["أَرضِ","الأَرضِ","الأَرْضَ","الأَرْضُ","الأَرْضِ"]·ben["পৃথিবী,","পৃথিবীকে।","পৃথিবীতে","পৃথিবীতে,","পৃথিবীতে।","পৃথিবীর","পৃথিবীর;","ভূমিতে"]·DE["Erde"]·EN["earth","ground"]·FR["terre"]·heb["אָרֶץ","הָאָרֶץ"]·HI["धरति","पृथ्वी","पृथ्वी-का","पृथ्वी-की","पृथ्वी-को","पृथ्वी-पर","प्रिथवि-कि","प्रिथवि-के","भूमि-पर"]·ID["bumi","dunia","tanah"]·IT["terra"]·jav["bumi","bumi,","bumi;"]·KO["땅","땅에서","땅의"]·PT["terra"]·RU["земле","земли","землю","земля","землёй"]·ES["tierra"]·SW["-wa-nchi","ardhi,","dunia","dunia,","dunia;","duniani","kutoka","kwa-maana","nchi"]·TR["yer","yerde","yere","yerin","yeryüzünde","yeryüzünü","yeryüzünün"]·urd["زمین","زمین-کا","زمین-کے"]

Matt 5:5, Matt 5:13, Matt 5:18, Matt 5:35, Matt 6:10, Matt 6:19, Matt 9:6, Matt 10:29, Matt 10:34, Matt 11:25, Matt 12:40, Matt 12:42 (+38 more)

▼ 3 more senses below

Senses

2. land, territory, region — A specific land, territory, country, or region — often a named place like 'the land of Israel' (Matt 2:20-21), 'the land of Judah' (Matt 2:6), or 'the land of Zebulun and Naphtali' (Matt 4:15). The word narrows from global to political geography, designating a bounded area with an identity. Arabic ard followed by a proper name, French la terre de, and German das Land all parallel this territorial narrowing. In Matt 9:26 'that land' simply means 'that region.' 68×

GEOGRAPHY_SPACE › Geographical Objects and Features › Earth and Land

AR["أَرضِ","أَرْضًا","أَرْضَ","أَرْضُ","أَرْضِ","الأَرْضُ","الأَرْضِ","الْأَرْضِ","تُرابٌ","تُربَةٌ"]·ben["দেশ","দেশে","পৃথিবীর","ভূমি","ভূমিতে","ভূমির","মাটি","মাটিতে"]·DE["Erde"]·EN["earth","ground","land","soil"]·FR["terre"]·heb["אֲדָמָה","אֶרֶץ","אָרֶץ"]·HI["अच्छी","के","देश","देश-में","धरति","बहुत","भुमि-पर","भूमि","मित्ति"]·ID["bumi","daerah","darat","tanah"]·IT["terra"]·jav["bumi","bumi,","dharatan","dharatan,","gisik","lemah","siti","siti,","tanah","tlatah"]·KO["땅","땅-에","땅-을","땅아","땅에","땅으로부터","땅이","흙","흙을","흙이"]·PT["terra"]·RU["земле","земли","землю","земля","землёй"]·ES["tierra"]·SW["ardhi","nchi","udongo"]·TR["karadan","karanın","karaya","toprak","toprakta","toprağa","toprağı","toprağın","toprağına","yerin","ülkede","ülkeye"]·urd["زمین","زمین-سے","زمین-پر","علاقے","مٹی"]

Matt 2:6, Matt 2:20, Matt 2:21, Matt 4:15, Matt 9:26, Matt 9:31, Matt 13:5, Matt 13:8, Matt 13:23, Matt 14:24, Matt 14:34, Matt 15:35 (+38 more)

3. ground, soil, dust — The physical ground surface or soil as tangible substance, especially in agricultural and burial contexts. The seed that fell on rocky ground 'had no depth of earth' (Mark 4:5); a farmer scatters seed 'on the ground' (Mark 4:26). Spanish tierra and French terre in their agricultural register ('good soil') capture this concrete, tactile sense. The focus is on ge as dirt, humus, growing medium — the material rather than the territory or planet. 6×

GEOGRAPHY_SPACE › Geographical Objects and Features › Earth and Land

AR["أرضٍ","الأَرْضِ","تُرابٍ","تُربَةٍ"]·ben["মাটির","মাটির,","মাটির।"]·DE["Erde"]·EN["earth","ground","of-soil"]·FR["terre"]·heb["אֲדָמָה"]·HI["उसे","पृथ्वी","बीजों","मित्ति-कि"]·ID["tanah","tanah,","tanah."]·IT["terra"]·jav["-siti","lemah,","lemah.","siti;"]·KO["땅","흙의"]·PT["de-terra","de-terra.","terra,"]·RU["земле","земли","землю"]·ES["de-tierra","tierra"]·SW["-udongo","ardhi","ardhi,","cha-udongo."]·TR["topraktan","toprağın","toprağın,","toprağın."]·urd["زمین","زمین-سے","زمین-کی"]

Matt 13:5, Mark 4:5, Mark 4:26, Mark 4:31, Mark 4:31, 1 Cor 15:47

4. shore, dry land — Dry land as opposed to sea or water — the shore or coast. In Luke 5:3 Jesus asks Simon to push out 'from the land,' and in Luke 5:11 the disciples bring their boats 'to land.' This maritime sense, echoing classical Greek usage (ge opposed to thalassa), appears only twice in the corpus. French terre in the nautical expression mettre pied à terre and English 'make land' preserve this same opposition between solid ground and open water. 2×

GEOGRAPHY_SPACE › Geographical Objects and Features › Earth and Land

AR["بَرِّ"]·ben["ডাঙায়","ডাঙার"]·DE["Erde"]·EN["land"]·FR["terre"]·heb["אֶרֶץ"]·HI["किनारे"]·ID["itu"]·IT["terra"]·jav["dharatan"]·KO["땅"]·RU["земли","землю,"]·ES["tierra"]·SW["pwani"]·TR["karadan","karaya"]·urd["-کے","زمین"]

Luke 5:3, Luke 5:11

BDB / Lexicon Reference

γῆ, ἡ, occasionally in Refs 8th c.BC+: dual γαῖν Refs 5th c.BC+; γῶν Refs 2nd c.BC+:—earth (including land and sea, Refs 7th c.BC+ opposed to heaven, or land opposed to sea, Γῆ τε καὶ Ἠέλιος καὶ Ἐρινύες Refs 8th c.BC+; τίς γ; Refs 8th c.BC+; κατὰ γῆν on land, by land, opposed to ναυσί, Refs 5th c.BC+; opposed to ἐκ θαλάσσης, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἐπὶ γῆς on earth, opposed to νέρθε, Refs 5th c.BC+; κατὰ…