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Hebrew

Nation

גּוֹיStrong’s H1471

goy

Appears in 511 verses of the Old Testament

In short

Goy is the Hebrew word usually translated “nations”, “among the nations” and “nation”. It appears in 511 verses of the Old Testament.

“Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.”
Daniel 8:22 KJV
Meaning
  1. Nation, peopleof swarm of locusts, other animals (fig.)
  2. People descended from Goy(?), first mentioned at Gen.14.1
  3. Nation, peopleof swarm of locusts, other animals (fig.) · Goyim? = "nations"
How it's translated
  • the nations 178
  • nations 131
  • among the nations 68
  • a nation 47
  • the nation 26
  • nation 15
  • nations of 11
  • into a nation 9

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most
  • Ezekiel 81
  • Jeremiah 77
  • Isaiah 66
  • Psalms 58
  • Deuteronomy 41
  • Genesis 23

34 books in all.

Related words
Explore in Scripture
All 511 verses, by book
1 Samuel 2
8:58:20
Ezra 1
6:21
Proverbs 1
14:34
Nahum 2
3:43:5
Haggai 3
2:72:142:22
Hebrew dictionary

גּוֹי goy · nation

1) nation, people 1a) nation, people 1a1) usually of non-Hebrew people 1a2) of descendants of Abraham 1a3) of Israel 1b) of swarm of locusts, other animals (fig.)

גּוֹיִם goyim · Goiim

People descended from Goy(?), first mentioned at Gen.14.1 § Goyim (Tidgal, king of)

גּוֹי goy · Gentile

1) nation, people 1a) nation, people 1a1) usually of non-Hebrew people 1a2) of descendants of Abraham 1a3) of Israel 1b) of swarm of locusts, other animals (fig.) 1c) Goyim? = "nations" Also named: ethnos (ἔθνος "Gentiles" G1484)

From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “nation” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

NATION, noun

[to be born]

  1. A body of people inhabiting the same country, or united under the same sovereign or government; as the English nation; the French nation It often happens that many nations are subject to one government; in which case, the word nation usually denotes a body of people speaking the same language, or a body that has formerly been under a distinct government, but has been conquered, or incorporated with a larger nation Thus the empire of Russia comprehends many nations, as did formerly the Roman and Persian empires. nation as its etymology imports, originally denoted a family or race of men descended from a common progenitor, like tribe, but by emigration, conquest and intermixture of men of different families, this distinction is in most countries lost.
  2. A great number, by way of emphasis.

Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.

Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.