Heath

"Heb. `arar, (Jer. 17:6; 48:6), a species of juniper called by" "the Arabs by the same name (`arar), the Juniperus sabina or" "savin. "Its gloomy, stunted appearance, with its scale-like" "leaves pressed close to its gnarled stem, and cropped close by" "the wild goats, as it clings to the rocks about Petra, gives" "great force to the contrast suggested by the prophet, between" "him that trusteth in man, naked and destitute, and the man that" "trusteth in the Lord, flourishing as a tree planted by the" "waters" (Tristram, Natural History of the Bible)."

(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.