Earth - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ûrth (אדמה, 'ădhāmāh, ארץ, 'erec, עפר, ‛āphār; γῆ, gḗ, οἰκουμένη, oikouménē): In a hilly limestone country like Palestine, the small amount of iron oxide in the rocks tends to be oxidized, and thereby to give a prevailing reddish color to the soil. This is especially the case on relatively barren hills where there is little organic matter present to prevent reddening and give a more blackish tinge.

'Ǎdhāmāh (compare 'ādhām, “a man,” and Adam) is from 'ādham, “to be red,” and is used in the senses: “earth” (Exo 20:24), “land” (Psa 105:35), a “land” or country (Isa 14:2), “ground” (Gen 4:11), “the earth” (Gen 7:4).

The word most in use is 'erec, undoubtedly from a most ancient root occurring in many languages, as English “earth,” German Erde, Arabic 'ard. It is used in most of the senses of 'ădhāmāh, but less as “soil” and more as “the earth” as a part of the universe; frequently with shāmayim, “heavens,” as in Gen 1:1 : “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

‛Āphār and its root word and derivatives are closely paralleled in the Arabic, and refer mainly to “dust” or “dry earth” (compare Arabic ‛afir, “to be of the color of dust”; ‛afar “dust”; ya‛fūr, “a gazelle”; Hebrew ‛ōpher, “a gazelle”). Compare Gen 2:7 : “Yahweh God formed man of the dust of the ground”; Job 2:12 : “.... sprinkled dust upon their heads”; Psa 104:29 : “.... they die, and return to their dust”; Gen 18:27 : “dust and ashes.”

In the Septuagint and New Testament, gē is used in nearly all cases, oikoumenē being used a few times for the “habitable earth,” as in Luk 21:26 the King James Version. See further ANTHROPOLOGY; ASTRONOMY; EVOLUTION; WORLD.