Category:Heathen

Hea"then, n.; pl. Heathens or collectively Heathen. Etym: [OE. hethen, AS. h, prop. an adj. fr. h heath, and orig., therefore, one who lives in the country or on the heaths and in the woods (cf. pagan, fr. pagus village); akin to OS. h, adj., D. heiden a heathen, G. heide, OHG. heidan, Icel. hei, adj., Sw. heden, Goth. haipn, n. fem. See Heath, and cf. Hoiden.]

1. An individual of the pagan or unbelieving nations, or those which worship idols and do not acknowledge the true God; a pagan; an idolater.

2. An irreligious person. If it is no more than a moral discourse, he may preach it and they may hear it, and yet both continue unconverted heathens. V. Knox. The heathen, as the term is used in the Scriptures, all people except the Jews; now used of all people except Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. Psalm 2:8.

Syn. -- Pagan; gentile. See Pagan.

heathen Hea"then, a.

1. Gentile; pagan; as, a heathen author. "The heathen philosopher." "All in gold, like heathen gods." Shak.

2. Barbarous; unenlightened; heathenish.

3. Irreligious; scoffing.

-- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Heathen - (Heb. plural goyum ). At first the word goyim denoted generally all the nations of the world (Genesis 18:18; compare Galatians 3:8). The Jews afterwards became a people distinguished in a marked manner from the other goyim. They were a separate people (Leviticus 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 (Joshua 23:7; 1 Kings 11:2). The practice of idolatry was the characteristic of these nations, and hence the word came to designate idolaters (Psalms 106:47; Jeremiah 46:28; Lamentations 1:3; Isaiah 36:18), the wicked (Psalms 9:5, Psalms 9:15, Psalms 9:17). The corresponding Greek word in the New Testament, ethne, has similar shades of meaning. In Acts 22:21, Galatians 3:14, it denotes the people of the earth generally; and in Matthew 6:7, an idolater. In modern usage the word denotes all nations that are strangers to revealed religion.